The House of Hades
by Aloneinthelabyrinth
Summary: Percy and Annabeth are in grave peril; the other prophecy members must continue their quest without them. The Greeks and Romans will collide and is it possible to prevent bloodshed? And to top it all off, Gaia will rise in less than a month.
1. ANNABETH I

**The House of Hades**

**Disclaimer: Annabeth says I'm not Rick Riordan and she's the smartest demigod alive, so I probably don't own this.**

**ANNABETH I**

**ANNABETH GRIPPED PERCY'S HAND, **she was incredibly familiar by the grove of his palm and his long slender fingers, and how it fit perfectly against hers. Annabeth had no idea how long she'd been holding Percy's hand, time was undistinguishable in Tartarus, Annabeth could have been there with Percy for five minutes or eternity, all she knew was she'd been holding his hand since the fall.

Both of them had survived, that's all that mattered, neither of them had cuts or bruises caused from the fall, Annabeth already had a broken ankle.

Saying Tartarus was dark was an understatement, it was a child's nightmare, dark and with the constant fear that the worse is yet to come, as if it was waiting for the Grand Finale.

Annabeth would have been blinded if it wasn't for the light being given off by Daedalus' laptop. After landing in the debris she scavenged around and managed to find her bag. Miraculously the laptop was in perfect condition, she was half expecting it to be in several fragments. Apart from being full with an infinite amount of ideas, the best thing about Daedalus' laptop is that it never ran out of energy, nor needed signal to operate. One day she'll thank her half-brother for that.

Arachne was nowhere to be found. Annabeth was unsure whether to be relieved or be paranoid. She managed to finally get rid of the cobweb being attached to her foot. She was terrified for her next encounter with Arachne. But right now, she was with Percy, and even in the depths of Tartarus that made her strong.

In myths which Annabeth had studied, she knew it took nine days and nine nights to reach the centre of Tartarus. Although nothing ever mentioned where the Doors of Death were in Tartarus, so Annabeth would have to use common sense rather than her memory of myths. Plus the myths were are sometimes widely inaccurate; they describe Hera in positive words.

Percy was frantically looking out the room, as if seeing if there was a door marked exit. Annabeth knew he disliked small spaces, she remember on their first quest together he wasn't too keen about going underground, however she'd never seen him this nervous. His eyes flickered to every corner, although due to the darkness you could barely see five foot in front of you. And Annabeth knew Percy was never afraid of the dark.

Annabeth wondered if things changed when Percy went on a quest with Frank and Hazel. She made a note to herself to ask him that later. Percy's welfare was more important first though.

"Percy are you al-"Annabeth's sentence got interrupted by a shattering groan and she flinched. Annabeth knew only the sound coming from Tartarus could be that powerful.

Another thing that made Annabeth nervous, aside from Percy not being his usual Seaweed Brain self was Tartarus. She knew the myths of Tartarus being a dark cavern, however she also knew Tartarus was father of the Giants and if they had to face Tartarus, a just as powerful being as Gaia, it would be bad. Annabeth knew Tartarus was neutral in the first Giant War and allowed the Gods to encase the Giants, except this wasn't the first Giant War, circumstances were different. Annabeth knew the likelihoods of winning a fight with Tartarus was non-existent.

But a part of her, a small voice thought maybe they could. She and Percy had collected the Lightning bolt for Zeus, sailed through the Sea of Monsters and rescued the Golden Fleece, they had put up with the weight of the sky – survived the Titan's Curse, survived the labyrinth and won the war against Kronos. They had done so much very little things seemed impossible, especially with Percy by her side. They were invincible together.

Tartarus seemed quiet, dangerously quiet. Percy had filled in Annabeth about Nico, and his journey into Tartarus. The child of Hades seemed tough despite his appearance, he was moody but Nico had been through a lot- the loss of his sister at the age of 10 and the possibility of being a child of the great prophecy. The thought of Nico being broken by Tartarus was terrifying, Annabeth had reached her terror limit with Arachne.

Nico's experience of Tartarus didn't match with Percy's and Annabeth's, Nico got attacked by Gaia's forces straight away and they overwhelmed him. There must have been hundreds of monsters dying to kill Percy and Annabeth, to seek revenge; after all they had slayed a large amount of monsters in their 16 years of life. Where was Medusa, the Minotaur, the dracnaes, the empousas?

Annabeth and Percy had been at Tartarus for a few hours perhaps and there had been no sighting or sound of a monster, aside from the constant groaning of Tartarus.

Annabeth had been at the edge of Tartarus once before, she was twelve then, and she felt a suction forcing her to the centre. Now, Annabeth knew she was definitely in Tartarus, except the pull had faded. As if Tartarus was daring for Annabeth and Percy to walk to the centre themselves, to test their limits.

Annabeth was willing to accept that challenge.

She hobbled along Tartarus with Percy. She knew they weren't walk around continuously as Tartarus was a one way path, plus even though Annabeth didn't know it was possible, each place was darker than the last. Annabeth just hoped they were getting closer to the Doors of Death.

Annabeth's ankle still throbbed as she continued moving, and every time she tried to move too quickly, she got the searing pain which made her see stars, and she was out of bubble wrap. Luckily she had ambrosia to numb the pain. Ambrosia didn't prevent starvation though, and Annabeth had no idea of the last time her and Percy ate anything or had anything drink.

The odd thing was, in Annabeth's backpack before she fell into Tartarus all she had was the laptop, a water bottle, some string, a few pieces of ambrosia and a few remaining matches. However now, her bronze dagger was placed in there, with the cursed silver coin, more string, her Yankee hat and a cornucopia. Annabeth was positive it wasn't Piper's cornucopia, it looked older and more used, it must have been the original one; the one Heracles gave to Hera.

This lead Annabeth to deduct it must have been Hera who magically equipped her backpack before it fell into Tartarus. Admittedly she didn't feel too grateful, Annabeth would have preferred herself and Percy to have not dropped in to the evil pits of Tartarus, although a well-equipped backpack was the next best thing. Annabeth knew that none of the gods would give them any help now, Tartarus was a no god zone, and they weren't that crazy to enter Tartarus.

Annabeth and Percy were alone.

Percy gave her hand a squeeze, and by the light of Daedalus' laptop he looked perfect. His black hair was messy and his sea green eyes had the slight mischievous glint that Annabeth fell in love with. He looked scared and his cocky grin was missing.

"Thank you," Annabeth whispered. She thanked the gods that she had seaweed brain in her life, not just for sticking with her in endless darkness, just for being part of her life.

Percy smiled and it made Annabeth's heart flutter. "This place could really use some interior decorating, huh?"

Annabeth laughed. It felt as if she hadn't laughed in aeons,"Perhaps more effective lighting and maybe some pillars to add some ancient sophistication."

Annabeth and Percy went into a conversation of the architectural needs of Tartarus, this varied from pink flamingo lights, to disco balls, comfy beanbag chairs, and a map, with an X marked on saying 'You are here'. Just in case a lost demigod or two, got sucked into Tartarus and needed to find the Doors of Death or needed to know where Gaia's forces were hiding

"What do you think the others are doing?" Percy asked.

Annabeth felt guilty, she had been so absorbed thinking other things she completely forgot about the prophecy and the others on board the Argo II. She started thinking aloud.

She presumed Leo would be with the Archimedes sphere, Annabeth was almost seething with jealousy she never saw it, the answers it would hold excited Annabeth. Jason would most likely be devising a plan, swapping information with Nico. Coach Hedge would probably be engrossed with a new television show, changing the theme tune into something that involved killing monsters. Hazel and Nico would be exchanging notes to the others about what they knew about their father and the doors of death. Piper would be checking her dagger to learn information about the situation between the camps, Percy and Annabeth, and Frank was maybe suggesting battle strategies – according to Percy he was talented at that. She started hoping the bane of Athena would be placed where it rightfully belonged; she hadn't gone on the quest for nothing. And then there was the issue between the two camps, a Civil War brewing in the midst.

Percy whistled, "Do you always think this much?"

"Nope, just a dumb blonde."

"Yeah, I just call your Wise Girl for nothing," Percy grinned.

They continued walking for a while, their hands swinging to the rhythm of their walking, until Percy asked, "This isn't right, is it?"

"What's not right?" Annabeth asked. Being a demigod there's a lot of 'not rights' like it isn't right that a bunch of teenagers disagree cause Civil Wars or the fate of the world depending on seven teenagers.

"I was thinking about Luke," Percy began. Annabeth tensed at the sound of Luke's name, he was still a soft spot for Annabeth, "And about being pawns of the Gods."

Annabeth nodded, Percy had a point, "Percy, we can't resent the Gods. They may not always be right, but would you rather be Gaia's pawn or the Gods' pawn?"

Percy frowned, Annabeth knew he'd rather fight on his own accord, and after a moment of silence he shrugged his shoulders and muttered quietly, "I guess I'm just tired."

It sent a shiver up Annabeth's spine. She remembered having a conversation with Luke about being tired. It was a few days after he received his scars, at the time she claimed she understood, although she assumed she knew everything, when there was so much more to learn. It was a similar conversation to the one she had with Percy. With Luke she agreed, she didn't want to cause conflict between her and Luke as she was harbouring a crush as big as the Argo II. She wasn't going to make the same mistake with Percy.

Annabeth hated the look of defeat in Percy's eyes, the boy usually had so much energy and Annabeth envied him for that, in the toughest of times Percy came up with his most sarcastic, funniest comments. Now he looked tired, Annabeth admitted she was tired too, after saving the world once and losing someone close to her, she didn't want to go through that again.

Alas, the fates couldn't resist making her share the destiny on the universe on hers', Percy's and five other demigods' shoulders. She squeezed Percy's hand, "At least we have each other."

"I love you Annabeth Chase."

"I love you too Perseus Jackson."

She leant in to kiss her boyfriend smiling, she wrapped her arms around his neck but before her lips could graze his Tartarus emitted a roar that a lion would be proud of. Seriously? Annabeth thought.

"For the love of Poseidon, you've got to be kidding me" Annabeth heard her boyfriend murmur.

The ground shuttered and Annabeth grasped onto Percy's hand like it was life itself, her nails digging into Percy's palm. Annabeth knew they were being drawn further into Tartarus. The suction was like gravity, impossible to defy, the force was too great.

Percy reached into his pocket with his right hand, his left hand still clutching Annabeth's. He uncapped his pen which formed into Riptide. He looked handsomely brave, as if he was born for battle. Annabeth drew her dagger with her left she knew she had to let go of Percy's hand when the fighting commenced.

The force was dragging them at impossible speeds. Annabeth composed herself for the second time she fell deeper into Tartarus. With this fall it makes them closer to the Doors of Death and escaping Tartarus, even if it included destroying a whole legion of monsters. She and Percy will see the others again.

She gazed into the familiar sea green eyes before the darkness overwhelmed her.

**Note: In case you decided to reread this, or you just enjoy staring at fanfictions for fun and realise that there's something slightly different, there is, I've swapped Jason's and Annabeth's chapters around, I had to do this so it works later on in the story.**

******In no particular order the POVs will be Frank, Jason, Hazel, Reyna and Annabeth. Reyna has a point of view included, to keep everyone updated on possibly what may be the next Civil War.**


	2. ANNABETH II

**Disclaimer: Me no own.**

**Please review, I'd love to hear some constructive criticism or how you like the story so far! And I like reviews more than Percy likes Annabeth. Okay maybe not that much.**

**ANNABETH II**

**ANNABETH LANDED ON HER ANKLE **and gave an involuntary shout of pain. She was sure whatever the ambrosia repaired had gotten damaged by the dodgy landing. But the pain was nothing compared to her frantic mind. Where was Percy? She was holding his hand when they got drawn further into Tartarus.

Annabeth let out a cry of frustration and switched her knife in her left hand to her right. She was ready to hack through whatever came in her path to find Percy.

"Percy," she yelled. She had lost him for seven months previously, and the months had been a mixture of nostalgia, torture and sheer determination to find Percy again. She would not waste another minute without her seaweed brain.

Annabeth looked around, assessing her surroundings; it was dimly lit by Greek fire, setting a green glow in the abyss. It looked hair-raising. The sounds of monsters were faint in the distance, they seemed to be chanting something, and Annabeth wondered if the chants were to Gaia, or maybe the chants were sacrificial. Dread drowned her. Annabeth had trouble composing herself. She repeated what she did last time when fear flooded her, she started to think.

Her mind whirled like machinery. She went back to the fall, she remembered feeling numb, she could feel nothing, not Percy's warm palm against hers, not her knife and not her rucksack, yet she had two of three of them with her. So logically a force had pulled Annabeth to the left and Percy to the right.

The noises seemed to have been coming left of Annabeth which should mean that she should avoid that general direction. However what if that was a trick? Tartarus was tricking her to think the noises were in a different direction and she walked straight into a trap, or what if Percy was where the noise were? The possibilities were endless.

Annabeth removed the string from her bag, if it worked for Theseus in the labyrinth she would make sure it would work for her. She started to unravel the string.

Which direction should she go? She knew she was in unfamiliar territory and Tartarus could easily manipulate the abyss to its own will.

Annabeth decided to choose the bold option and walked in the direction of the noise.

She hobbled at a steady pace nibbling more ambrosia being careful she wouldn't overdose. She once broke her wrist when she was nine, downed the ambrosia since the taste of popcorn felt comforting. The after effects were a burning headache, so fierce she felt as if someone was incinerating her brain. She was more careful with ambrosia ever since and had never had the slightest hint of a headache after taking ambrosia.

The noises of the monsters grew louder. Annabeth was constantly looking behind her, to check if the string was in place and to see if a monster was sneaking up behind her.

"Annabeth," She heard a voice yell. Relief overtook Annabeth. Percy's voice was like the Sirens music to her ears. She limped quickly to the sound of Percy's voice, she wondered if he was hurt. She didn't have the equipment to perform first aid aside from ambrosia.

"Percy," She yelled back, and then she paused in her steps.

Gods, for the supposedly smartest child of Athena she could be stupid at times. Why didn't she think of it earlier, she had given off her location to the monsters of Tartarus, and there was the risk that it wasn't Percy's voice she heard, yet an imitation of the voice?

"Show yourself!" Annabeth screeched, her voice coming out shriller than she expected. Her knuckles were white from the harsh grip on her knife.

A deep chuckle erupted from nowhere and Annabeth heard slow clapping, "Very clever daughter of Athena."

Annabeth closed her eyes. She had heard that voice before. But where? It was thick and gravelly and boomed as if it was aeons old. The voice was definitely familiar. Her mind drifted back to the Titan War, she had battled many monsters but never had a conversation with them.

It must have been earlier and Annabeth felt anxious. She had a few bad experiences with Cyclops and Annabeth knew they were able to mimic voices to perfection.

The Cyclops came into view and Annabeth's stomach sunk, she hadn't seen that repulsive face since she was seven, and she shifted her knife from palm to palm. The Cyclops grinned, his teeth broken is some places.

"Hello Annabeth," He said. Except it wasn't in his Cyclops voice, but in Luke Castellan's. The same voice it was when she was seven.

Annabeth knew she had the disadvantage in the fight - she had a broken leg and she was suffering from fatigue, plus the Cyclops enforced a psychological threat. Annabeth also knew that revenge was childish and immature, however that didn't stop her from charging at the Cyclops.

She hobbled forwards and the Cyclops lunged at her, Annabeth side stepped and held out her dagger slashing the Cyclops knee. Annabeth wondered what would happen to the Cyclops if she slayed it, after all she was in Tartarus where all the killed monsters go.

Less thinking, more fighting.

The Cyclops got up, gold ichor flowing from its knee. Annabeth always hesitated before killing a Cyclops after she met Percy's brother Tyson. It seemed odd that a same species could produce such different personalities. However with this Cyclops Annabeth had did not pause to kill, this Cyclops deserved everything it got.

It charged towards her again, Annabeth calculating it going a speed at roughly 15 miles per hour. She raised her knife in an arc slicing neatly the monsters throat. The Cyclops gagged and milliseconds later it disappeared, not turning to dust, it just disappeared.

Annabeth guessed it would have most likely gone somewhere else into Tartarus, since where else could the monster go?

She wiped of the dust and ichor off her knife; it was a habit she'd gotten attuned to. After every monster or battle, she would wipe the knife with her sleeve until it was spotless. The knife meant a lot to her after all.

Annabeth carried on trundling forward, still using the string to guide her path, she knew that she didn't necessarily need the string, it was a way for Percy to find her, and he knew the myth of the labyrinth. Or at least she told him it several times and he chose not to listen.

Annabeth hoped the other members of the Argo II were safe and sound and didn't feel alone as she did.

Annabeth tried to make little sound, except hobbling with bubble wrap around her foot didn't help. Every few minutes the pressure she placed on her foot made a bubble pop, and Annabeth had the fear a monster would suddenly appear.

The only thing that made Annabeth sane about falling into Tartarus is that she fell with Percy together. Now there was no Percy and she was alone, and she was gradually becoming crazy. More crazy than she'd been when Percy disappeared for months on end.

Annabeth always questioned the motives of heroes who had gone mad, Heracles or even Luke, she wondered what so bad they had lost a sense in morals and she tried to understand, but empathy was never one of her strongest points. And now, she got it, they felt alone and scared, and was probably more vulnerable than they were when they were little, and on top of all that they had expectations to uphold and prophecies to fulfil.

She started to dream about architecture, the buildings on Mount Olympus, the new ones which she'd build. She remembered the detail that she included in the statue room, and the feast hall. Even the bathroom was something Annabeth was immensely proud of.

She reminded herself that when she was safe and not in Tartarus she would make a statue of the seven. To remind herself on the quest she'd been on and to the Gods, who may actually appreciate heroes and their children, and maybe they'd realise that they should pay attention to them and not use them for granted. It would be a monument to last forever. It brought a smile to her face, but not for long.

_Annabeth_ Arachne's voice called, more venomous that ever.

Annabeth turned quickly, her blond curls colliding against her face seeing if she could hear the source of the voice. She wasn't finished with Arachne. The thought of her made her less shiver with fear but make her blood boil. The weaver was on Annabeth Chase's bad side, and that was a bad idea.

This was the Tartarus Annabeth was expecting, countless of monster fights after another. Of course she pictured it with Percy by her side, both of them somehow surviving, perhaps exhausted and slightly injured, but surviving.

"Arachne!" Annabeth yelled, trying to hide the fear in her voice.

_Follow the spiders if you wish for your Perseus to survive_, Arachne cackled.

Annabeth despised Arachne before now it was something else. Blackmailing Annabeth telling her she has her boyfriend? Arachne went way past the taunting demigod line.

There was a chance it could be a trap, Annabeth knew that, however even if it was she had to be face to face with Arachne, and fully complete the Mark of Athena quest.

Spiders were crawling past the floor of the tunnel, making a scuttling sound; there wasn't enough to swarm Annabeth, however enough she could follow them without losing sight. She summoned up her courage and followed the spiders.

The more she followed the spiders the more Annabeth filled with dread, what if Arachne had Percy? Horrible images swarmed in her mind and made her feel horribly uncomfortable. Annabeth wished she had a giant bird which would just swoop over and eat Arachne. However she was out of luck.

The string was still trailing behind Annabeth and she was becoming desperately worried that she hardly had any string left and she may need it in the final fight with Arachne. She knew 12 different ways how to kill a monster with a single piece of string. She broke off the string, if there was the chance that Percy was not with Arachne, Annabeth didn't want to lead him into a trap where he could potentially get hurt.

Annabeth stumbled further into Tartarus, but she wasn't terrified, she was fascinated by Tartarus, it lacked the architectural features of the labyrinth however it seemed to be level upon level, with twists and turns, steep drops and the surfaces varied from hard rock to slippery dark ice. Although it wasn't much good for her damaged ankle, especially the steep drops.

Just a few more moments my beautiful sacrifice, Arachne taunted. Annabeth was not going to be a sacrifice, especially not Arachne's, she had made a lot of sacrifices in the past and her life wasn't going to be added to that list.

The spiders came to a standstill and vanished. Arachne was dangerously close.

Annabeth held her ground, doing her best to look defiant, except it was hard to look defiant when her eyes were drooping and she was anxious for her boyfriend's life. But she gave it a shot anyway. She wiped her knife with her sleeve for luck.

The green light was incredibly faint there and Annabeth didn't like to fight blind. She turned on Daedalus' laptop and let the bright light shine through the abyss. As soon as the light shown what was in store for Annabeth, she wished she had never turned the laptop on.

Her heart felt as if it was ripping into thousands of pieces, her eyes burned threatening tears. Annabeth was trembling and a sob caught at the back of her throat. Her burning hatred for Arachne came to a limit she didn't even know existed; all Annabeth could see was red.

She stared at the spot. The very spot where Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, laid unconscious swathed in Arachne's webs.

**Anonymous reviewers: Thanks so much!**


	3. JASON III

**Disclaimer: I am not Rick Riordan and own none of his ideas, or otherwise Mark of Athena would have ended with Percy and Annabeth skipping off into the sunset. **

_**I like reviews more than Rick Riordan likes cliffhangers**__._

**JASON III**

**EVEN WITH THE GREAT ATHENA PARTHENOS HANGING FROM THE ARGO II WITH A SCARF ON HER FEET**, nothing could really cheer the crew of the Argo II, not after the loss of Percy and Annabeth. Jason knew they had to get on with it. A saying they thrived on in Camp Jupiter was _Veni, vidi, vici_ meaning I came, I saw, I conquered, not I came, I saw, and moped until my friends came back from the evil pits of Tartarus.

And in some ways the crew was recovering, they were flying the most impressive Greek Trireme and Leo was making weapons which could probably make monsters wet themselves, or that's how Leo phrased it. Hazel and Nico were sitting together on the deck, murmuring together, as being the kids of Pluto/Hades they knew the House of Hades better than anyone, Hazel even spent seventy years in the underworld, so Jason hoped they knew what they were doing.

It was like they lost the heart and the soul of the Argo II. Jason and Percy were like brothers. What brothers don't joust to the death in Kansas, insult Octavian and defeats two giants in Rome? And Jason and Annabeth, well he would never say they were friends, more or less acquaintances, but they worked excellently together, plus he needed her, the group needed her. Also he missed Percy and Annabeth together, seeing them happy brought stability to the group, almost promising, you can still be happy even though you may die at the hands of Gaia.

Being a demigod usually guaranteed life would suck.

Jason glanced at Piper. She looked gorgeous with her choppy hair braided pacing up and down the Argo II, although that's how she always looked; gorgeous. Her nose was scrunched up and she seemed incredibly frustrated and then suddenly she hurried below deck.

Jason was about to pursue her until someone asked, "Jason, can I speak to you?"

Jason turned round to see Nico Di Angelo, Hazel's creepy half-brother, and Hazel standing behind him. He looked broken; his dark eyes appeared lost, as if they were still drifting in the depths of Tartarus. Jason never trusted that guy, not when he appeared a year ago to Camp Jupiter, not when he bought Hazel in a month before Jason vanished, and not now. Although he was necessary, and Jason had to do the reasonable thing.

"Yeah," He said.

"Me and Hazel were talking, and well… We thought it would best to split up"

Jason frowned, the last time they split up two members didn't make it back, and there was no way they could risk losing another two, or even one. Nico fiddled his sleeve, anticipating Jason's reply.

Jason was never content with being a leader; he usually doubted himself several times even when it came to making the choice of what topping he wanted on his pizza. Although he had taken the leadership role for now since Percy and Annabeth disappeared and no one else seemed to want it. So far all he and Leo ordered after the disaster in Rome was for the ship to hover in the air, the ship being near land was dangerous, Gaia was getting more and more powerful by the minute, and since they didn't have Percy, none of them felt that comfortable with the water, so it was unanimous that they would fly until plans were decided.

Although the destination was undecided. It was difficult to decide their priorities, do they 1) Try to prevent the next civil war 2) Close the Doors of Death in Greece to prevent the monsters reforming or 3) Finish Annabeth's quest and place the Athena Parthenos where it should be.

Jason wasn't happy with accepting ideas from Nico Di Angelo, for all he knew the guy could be separating them for making them easier prey for Gaia.

"Listen Nico, I don't think that's a good idea."

"No you listen Jason," Nico growled, Jason was taken back, he knew Nico from Camp Jupiter and he always seem reserved, keeping his emotions to himself, "I haven't been stuck in a bronze jar for days and lost my only friends to be told that what I think isn't a 'good idea'."

He continued, "Perhaps I wasn't honest at the start, but that was for a good reason. I didn't want to be the cause of the next Civil War. And I think you should listen to me as I may know the Doors of Death better than anyone else here."

"Boys, calm down," Hazel intervened. Her hands were out palms facing towards each of them, threatening if they tried anything Hazel would launch a gold brick at them or something.

Jason was about to tell Hazel he was calm, it was Nico who was growling like a hellhound, but he realised that would be stupid. He realised he may have slightly provoked Nico and should have given the guy some slack. Jason couldn't imagine what it must have been like to be trapped in a bronze jar for days and have Otis and Ephialtes as the only company. It couldn't have been much fun.

Nico glared at Jason and wondered with Hazel off to a private area on the deck, obviously not in the mood for conversation with Jason. But Jason caught him mumbling something along the lines of, "For Percy and Annabeth".

Hazel shot a concerned look at Jason before she left. He still felt bad about how he mentioned to Hazel that Nico was suspicious. He and Hazel were supposed friends –she even mentioned that she'd looked up to Jason- and his relationship with her hadn't been so good after his comment.

Jason walked off to check on the others, Hedge was recovering from the loss of Percy and Annabeth by eating and smashing things. Jason felt bad for the satyr, he was supposed to be an adult supervisor, but Coach Hedge took that as ultimate protector, but Jason couldn't just give the guy a hug unless he wanted a death sentence.

Leo was fiddling with his new sphere and Frank was fixing the easier things on the ship. All he needed was a few instructions from Leo and he was set to go. Jason knew things were tense between Leo and Frank. Neither seemed to like each other that much, Piper mentioned Hazel had something to do with it. But they seemed like a natural team and Jason was glad they set aside their difference to work.

He wondered below deck, to the stables where Percy and Annabeth spent the night together and almost caused everyone else to have a heart attack. He was about to leave, heading towards his bunk, until he saw Piper who was Iris Messaging someone, her brow was creased and she was scowling, Jason walked closer to see who she was talking to. And through the shimmering image was Clarisse La Rue.

Jason thought Clarisse was too violent for her own good, he played Capture the Flag with her and she was more vicious than any of the Romans during the war games. She was so different from Frank her Roman half-brother it made him question if they were actually related.

"Hey Clarisse, injured anyone yet?" Jason grinned when he was behind Piper's back. Piper turned around and gave him one of her stunning smiles although it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"It looks like I'm going to have to injure a few Roman punks," Clarisse growled. Jason finally knew what Piper and Clarisse were talking about.

"They're in New York right?"

"Closer than you think, we would have had some eagle visitors, except Peleus got to them first."

That would have usually made Jason laugh, the dragon protecting the borders killing something before Clarisse could, except it made him shiver, an icy feeling flooding through his spine. The Romans were close, dangerously close.

Clarisse noticed the look of doubt on Jason's face, and her arrogant smile spread across her face. "Don't worry air head, we got this under control. The Athena Cabin is thinking, the Hephaestus Cabin is making, we're sharpening our weapons, and Drew is bedazzling her armour. Plus we have the Hunters on their way. Not my idea but I'm not complaining with the extra help."

The thought of Thalia was usually comforting for Jason. But what happened if she got hurt? He wouldn't be able to live with himself if the only surviving mortal member of his family died on his behalf. Then again, what if she shot an arrow at one of his friends? Sure he wouldn't mind if Octavian or if one of his teddy bears got hit, in fact he'd asked Bacchus to hold a party, but what if Gwen, Bobby or even Dakota got injured? Or what if it was Reyna…

Jason shook his head, whenever he thought about Reyna, he usually got a headache or he'd lose a snippet of his memory. But he knew she was strong enough to survive the next civil war when it happened, Reyna could survive anything.

"Grace are you even listening to me?" Clarisse threatened, Jason saw Piper turned tilting her head sending Jason a puzzled look.

"Huh?"

"What I said was that the Romans were hot on defence, right? Malcolm wants to know everything so we can get a battle strategy started."

Piper cleared her throat, "Clarisse I don't think that would be necessary."

Clarisse glared, "We either have to fight or we'll get trampled on by some Romans. I choose the first option. Try not to get your pretty little face involved."

"The Romans are strong, they thrive on conquering, each cohort is well trained and has battle tactics and the numbers are slightly greater than yours. Plus Reyna may get the Amazons involved, and there numbers are far bigger than the Hunters," Jason sighed, "And I don't like the Camp's odds."

Clarisse grunted, and her russet eyes flickered away from Jason, "Well, we have the Stoll brothers and they thrive on messing up everything."

Jason nodded in agreement. One time the Stolls had attempted into making him into a human chicken. Their excuse was Jupiter was Lord of the Sky, so by covering Jason in glue and feathers it was a token of admiration for the God. Jason fried off their eyebrows 5 seconds later.

Piper tried to say something, Jason thought she was going to use her charm speak convince Clarisse that the Romans and Greek shouldn't fight each other, but fight together, and peace between the two camps was necessary. However before she could persuade Clarisse the Iris Message was finished.

Piper sighed, "I tried to message Chiron but he wasn't there, he was trying to contact Olympus. So I had to talk to Clarisse, and then she started asking questions about Percy and Annabeth, but I never got to answer them because you came in."

Jason observed Piper, her jaw was clenched. "Did you try -"

"Did I try to Iris Message Percy and Annabeth? I did it five times. And nothing Jason. Nothing,"

Piper's bottom lip trembled and Jason drew her into a hug. Jason was never the huggy type of person. After all he was raised by wolves by the age of two so he had an excuse not to be. Yet Piper seemed to like it when Jason hugged her or put his arm around her, it brought a gleam into her ever changing eyes.

He pulled back, "I think we should have a meeting maybe in an hour or so, whenever Leo and Frank are ready."

Piper nodded, "I'll tell the others."

When Piper left, Jason started tidying the stables, trying to make it look presentable. He wasn't exactly sure why he was doing it, but the constant movement seemed to calm him and cleared his mind. He let out a piercing whistle to see if Tempest was nearby, yet he never appeared.

_Worth a shot_, Jason thought.

Jason lost track of time, he could have been in the stable for ten minutes, perhaps hours. And suddenly Jason felt like he was standing in the Antarctic, the hairs on Jason's arms stood up, his neck prickled and a wintry wind whistled through the air. The windows in the stable were sealed shut, and the door was closed, and fresh air should have not been accessible. Jason didn't know how there was a wisp or air, nor did he want to know.

Abruptly Jason heard a scream for help. A high pitch female scream.

_Piper's in trouble_, Jason thought. Adrenaline surged through his veins and an uneasy feeling formed in his stomach. However, the scream wasn't right – it was too high pitched and slightly more childlike. Meaning it had to have belonged to the youngest crew member on the ship; Hazel.

Jason stormed to above deck, faster than a wind spirit, gladius in hand. Except when he arrived, the deck was empty and eerily quiet. Jason twisted his gladius around, he knew despite that he couldn't see someone, he wasn't alone.

A shrill female laugh echoed across the deck. It was impossible to tell the location of the laugh, it was everywhere, as if it was part of the atmosphere. It left a painful ringing sound in Jason's ears. Jason turned round, seeking a sign.

Where were the others? Surely they must have heard a scream? Maybe not Leo since he was absorbed in his work, but Frank and Piper must have overheard it?

Maybe Jason was going crazy - Demigod Stress. Happens in one in every five demigods. You think you're hearing noises and feeling icy winds, but it's just you being a crazy, paranoid demigod. The first step to recovery is admitting you have it.

Before Jason walked off and officially diagnosed himself with Demigod Stress. A figure was blocking the sunlight. And there on the top of the deck stood Khione, robed in white, looking as dazzling as ever. Her coffee eyes glowered at Jason.

It wasn't the snow goddess that cause Jason's heart to skip a beat. It was the two ice sculptures. A curly haired girl with a valiant expression holding a cavalry sword, and a boy a few inches taller with an aviator jacket. Hazel and Nico.

Finally Khione gave a cold smirk, "Miss me?"


	4. JASON IV

**Disclaimer: I'm still not Rick Riordan, no matter how hard I try.**

**JASON VI**

**JASON WAS SURE THIS WAS A SUICIDE MISSION.**

Nonetheless he let out a battle cry and charged towards the Snow Goddess. He hoped someone heard his battle cry; Leo, Piper, Frank, Coach Hedge or even a God who was listening and decided to be in a generous mood.

Khione flicked her wrists slightly and a blast of winter air sailed through her fingertips. Jason rolled to the side, his body had an uncomfortable ache from his recent fight, yet he managed to avoid being turned into an ice sculpture, so far.

He summoned his energy and felt a pop in the atmosphere, thunderclouds swarmed and rumbled and a strike of lightning towards Khione. She stepped aside and the lightning bolt attacked the deck, leaving a dark black stain on the newly repaired deck.

_Leo's not going to be happy, _Jason thought, he had forced Frank to lay out some wooden boards an hour ago. Although Jason realised he shouldn't be too concerned about Leo's happiness when a snow goddess was trying, and almost succeeding, to make him into a Popsicle.

Khione smirked, already knowing who the winner of the fight was. She aimlessly sent ice daggers at Jason who managed to deflect them using his gladius. Jason felt triumphant as her grin was wiped off her face and turned into a snarl.

Jason understood if he got too close to Khione he would turn into an ice sculpture and there was a possibility that she'd make the ship into Winter Wonderland. Her strikes were powerful long distance; her ice daggers were more deadly as they are able to gather speed.

Jason wished he was with Percy; the two of them together could do extraordinary stuff, even by demigod standards. They could have encased Khione in a water tornado or struck her with a storm Poseidon and Jupiter would be proud of. Even the imperial gold and celestial bronze could have made an impact.

Jason thought he might as well try to ask Poseidon or Neptune to help, he had nothing to lose. He prayed to the sea god with all his might, hoping that possibly Neptune/Poseidon was in a good mood or maybe wanted to seek vengeance for his son falling into the evil pits of the underworld.

Jason stabbed his gladius up in the air and concentrated. He lacked energy from the last strike of lightning. His friends were in trouble, and even if it destroyed him, he wouldn't let Khione touch any of them.

The clouds returned, swarming like a group of bees, and started rumbling. Jason knew he was doing the storm by himself, Neptune or Poseidon was either, not listening, had orders from Jason's father to not take part or couldn't be bothered with Jason's request. But if Percy's dad was anything like Percy it must have been the second option.

Raindrops hurtled towards the deck stinging Jason's skin. Jason clenched his jaw and scrunched his eyes. The flurry of lightning bolts struck with a great intensity, the bright lights blinded him and his right leg collapsed beneath him.

Beads of sweat trickled down his forehead and he felt a burning sensation in his muscles. He could faintly hear the panicking voices of Piper, Frank and Leo in the background and then the voices changed to constant ringing and Jason faded away into the darkness.

At first it was darkness, Jason was drifting through and then the darkness transformed into swirling images of Jason's past, his mother looking at him, a younger Thalia scolding him for trying to eat a stapler, his first meeting with Lupa, growing up in the Legion, playing games with Gwen, first meeting Dakota, and riding of Hannibal the elephant.

Jason learned his memories from dreams. However dreams tend to be selective and Juno was only returning what she wanted Jason to know. Jason knew there were key bits of his past his dreams had yet to unlock. Maybe he'd learn more now.

Juno shimmered into view draped with a goat skin and the images disappeared. Jason wondered what the goddess wanted now.

Juno raised her eyebrows, _Jason, history is important so we don't repeat it_, Juno chuckled darkly to herself, realising the irony of her comment, the Titan War got repeated and the Giant War is getting repeated. _Watch carefully my hero._

Jason concentrated. He was watching Camp Half Blood, except the décor wasn't right. It looked old-fashioned, the Big House wasn't the usual sky blue colour, but encased with brick work. People were wearing clothes that looked over 100 years out of date. Not that Jason was judging, clothes weren't his main interest.

Chiron trotted into view, Jason didn't recognise him at first - he seemed less troubled. There were less frown lines, his eyes looked less intense, and more of a warm glowing brown colour. He seemed in mid conversation with a demigod.

The demigod was tall, well-muscled with wide shoulders, at least seventeen. His skin was dark and he held an easy-going grin. He was twisting his sword, grinning and joking with Chiron. His sky blue eyes were glistening, as if Chiron had told a joke. Or maybe he was laughing at Chiron's music taste.

_Ade Akoto_, Jason heard Juno say_. Son of Zeus, leader of the Greeks side during the demigod Civil War._

Another person to add to my growing list of people I'm related to, Jason thought.

Yells and shouts interrupted Chiron's and Ade's conversation. Chiron's face turned into a state which Jason was familiar of. He abruptly looked more aged. His face looked gaunt, similarly to how his looked when Jason appeared at Camp Half Blood. Ade gripped his sword and proceeded towards the riot.

At the front of the riot marched a boy. Although calling him a boy seemed like the wrong word choice. He was just as tall, maybe a bit taller as Ade with a harsh sneer. He was attractive in an unusual way, his eyes were different colours; one a bright hazel and another black as his pupil.

_Charles Quint,_ Juno muttered, _leader of the other side of the war, the Romans, son of Janus._

Jason nodded. Janus was an important God in Roman mythology, the month January had been named after him, the last praetor before Jason had been a legacy of Janus, and Janus had an impressive shrine dedicate to him. It would seem like an obvious leader choice, children of Janus usually chose right, reasonable choices.

_Not all the time,_ Juno said.

Great Juno was reading his mind, Jason tried to send brain messages to Juno, asking for his full memory back, yet if she got them she ignored them.

Jason gave up on his pathetic attempt of telepathy and trained his attention towards the conversation.

Calling Charles Quint furious would be an understatement, he seemed to be seething with anger, and a vein was bulging in his forehead, "How dare you?" Charles hissed, "Give it back to me now and I will spare your life _Graceus._"

"How generous," said Ade, "However I do not have it."

Chiron interfered, his eyes looking steely calm, "Charles return to your cabin, and I recommend you all to do the same." He mentioned to the other members in the mob who shifted uncomfortably at the sight of Chiron's glare.

Charles snarled, "Not until he gives it back."

More demigods crowded around, anticipating the fight between the two, some backed Ade, yelling words of encouragement and throwing insults at Charles. Others joined Charles' mob. Ade had sparks running across his body, similarly to Jason or Thalia when they were angry. Jason wondered if Charles knew what children of Zeus could do, or maybe the guy wasn't afraid of being turned into a kebab.

One petite girl behind Charles with short dark hair and sea green eyes put her hand on Charles' beefy shoulder and said, "Charles calm down. He probably hasn't got it."

"What's the missing item?" Jason asked Juno.

_The spear of Janus_, Juno muttered, _Janus gave Charles Quirinus' spear. Quirinus is an epithet of Janus, the spear disappeared and Charles believed Ade took it._

"So the moral of this dream is that the next Civil War will start with a stolen spear?"

The goddess laughed, _History doesn't repeat itself exactly. The Trojan War started because Menelaus, King of Sparta lost Helen to Paris of Troy. The Civil War started because Charles lost a sacred possession to what he believed the hands of the Greek._

"But Ade never stole the weapon did he," Jason asked.

_No he did not_, Juno agreed.

"Who did?" Juno looked impassive.

"You're not going to tell me." Jason said.

_You'll never learn anything if I just told you. Now keep on watching, it's important_.

Jason tried to watch but his attention was waning due to ADHD. The green-eyed girl who attempted to calm Charles down was introduced as Esther daughter of Neptune, according to Juno's commentary. She was now in between the two demigods who looked close to murdering each other.

Charles was screeching at her to move so he could impale Ade with his sword. Yet the girl stay stood and Jason admitted that he was impressed, she was keeping a cool head when it seemed like war was about to break out.

Jason realised how important the object must have been, Charles was gradually looking more and more like a tomato as Jason's dream proceeded.

Ade, however, looked like a Christmas tree with all the bright sparks emitting from his body. His brow was creased and he no longer looked like the easy-going friendly guy Jason presumed he was at the beginning of the dream.

Their voices became even more raised and it seemed as if every camper was now backing either Charles or Ade. A few other demigods joined Esther in the middle attempting to make peace between the two yelling groups.

Chiron was attempting to order the chaos yet the noise was too loud and no one was willing to listen. Chiron was unable to get through the crowd of demigods, and if he could, it would involve in hurting several of them. Jason was shocked; he had never seen anything this unruly. Capture the Flag seemed like gentle knitting compared to this.

Suddenly Ade set alight and a lightning bulb struck down. The bright white light of the bolt blinded Jason's vision.

There was silence as Esther, the daughter of Neptune lay still on the ground. Her sea green eyes wide open and her lips parted slightly, she didn't look like a dead person, yet there was no way of reviving someone from a lightning bolt attack with that voltage.

Each demigod stared at the girl's corpse. Chiron tried to regain order and managed to walk to Esther's corpse. He started murmuring something about a burial. A few campers knelt towards the daughter of Neptune. One girl was sobbing hysterically, she had identical eyes to Esther and she lowered herself down towards the corpse and cupped the girls face with her hand.

She glared at Ade, her eyes bloodshot and whispered, "I will kill you for this."

And that's when the Demigod Civil War broke out.

"Jason _wake_ up."

Jason blinked several times, trying to regain his vision, everything was sore, and he had a splitting headache. He tried to sit up quickly and almost blacked out. Bad idea.

Piper was leaning across him, her kaleidoscope eyes looking curiously at him. Her hair was messed up and looked like an excellent place for birds to land as if she had stayed up the whole night, her eyes looked puffy from the lack of sleep. She smiled, "Finally you're awake."

"How many times do I have to pass out on this quest?" Jason groaned massaging his head with his hands.

"I'm betting 10, what about you guys?" Jason saw Leo grinning. It was good to see Leo not with any electrical device.

"Wait, where even am I?" Jason turned his head around and saw that he was surrounded by hay. He must be in the stables, "Where are Hazel and Nico?"

"We're here Jason," Hazel said. Jason was relieved that she wasn't an ice sculpture, but a normal breathing girl. Nico was next to her, he was looking at Jason as if he were some mildly interesting TV show.

"What happened?" Jason was immensely confused, last he remembered being conscious was when he was creating a storm and was facing Khione and that Hazel and Nico were surrounded by ice. "Where's Khione?"

"Are you going to stop asking questions? It's making my brain hurt a little" Frank said, "When you were having a face off, the doors were frozen over. We had to drag Leo away from his toy sphere to melt it, and when we finally were allowed on deck we saw you unconscious, and an iced Hazel and Nico."

Thank the gods Jason didn't imagine it, for a millisecond he believed he was going crazy, for the second time he was going to diagnose himself with Demigod Stress.

"Khione saw us and disappeared like that," Frank continued snapping his fingers for the effect. "Leo managed to melt Hazel and Nico being popsicles."

Jason noticed Frank didn't seem to thrilled that Leo played the hero.

"You've been unconscious for a day," Nico said, "We're having a meeting in half an hour to discuss our plans."

Jason grunted as he attempted to get up, his legs quivered yet he was stably up in a matter of a few seconds, "Good. I've had a dream you may want to hear."


	5. FRANK V

**Disclaimer: Do I own this? Who do you think I am Rick Trolling Riordan?**

**Over 3,000 views! Blue muffins for everyone!**

**FRANK V**

**THE CREW MEMBERS OF THE ARGO II SURROUNDED THE TABLE. **The last time they assembled at the table Percy and Annabeth had been there and Nico wasn't present. It made Frank shudder wondering if anyone would be missing the next time they gathered at the same table.

Coach Hedge was absentmindedly whacking his baseball bat on the table and Leo winced when an indent was clear on the table, "Do you mind?" Leo snapped.

Hedge glared at him, contemplating whether he should knock Leo out with his baseball bat, a slither of Frank wanted him to, and would have offered to do it for Coach Hedge. The rest of Frank was appalled that he'd even think of it. Frank wasn't the type to get jealous.

Jason cleared his throat, "Shall we, uh, get on with it?"

The guy still look exhausted, his face was pale and it he struggled to keep his eyes open. Frank after hearing multiple stories about Jason Grace the brave praetor he expected something different. He thought that maybe the guy would glow, or at least look arrogant, yet Jason looked like an ordinary teenage boy.

"Simple, we go to Tartarus, kill a few monsters and save Percy and Annabeth," Hedge grunted.

"Coach Hedge," Piper said smoothly, "We'd all love to save Percy and Annabeth really, not a member on this boat wouldn't, except we would have to reach the House of Hades first."

"Then we do that."

"There are other things to do. We need to stop a Civil War and that Athena Parthenos isn't going to put itself up," Jason said, "Plus we don't know how easy it is to get there."

Nico stopped slumping in his chair and poised his back straight. Frank usually forgot when Nico was about; he had a skill of disappearing and being silent. "Our quest is a lot easier than Percy's and Annabeth's. We'd need to get to Epirus and as fast as possible. Gaia's forces are guarding it. From what I know it's going to be no walk in the park. There are monsters in a 10 mile radius surrounding the temple along with two giants."

"Then how did you get there?" Jason asked.

Hazel shot him an annoyed look, "Jason, he can shadow travel, he's easily able to slip past an army."

Frank couldn't help but smile whenever Hazel talked. She seemed a lot more animated over the past week or two, finally accepting in who she was turning into and was more confident than before. She was radiant.

She saw Frank staring at her and grinned back, her golden eyes glistening. Frank still found it hard to believe once ago she was aimlessly wondering in the underworld, she was so full of life, and Frank prayed to the Gods that she was kept that way.

Nico raised his eyebrows at Jason who grinned sheepishly, "Sorry, I guess I don't know much about you."

"Now that the bonding session is over, Son of the Universe what is your suggestion to what you think we should do?" Leo asked fiddling with scraps of metal.

Jason looked uncomfortable and he creased his eyebrows in concentration. "What giants are we up against Nico?"

Nico shifted uncomfortably in his seat, "Molios and Aigaion, the giant equivalents of Artemis or Diana and Apollo.

Frank remembered the wishes he had of Apollo being his godly father and feeling bitter towards him when he wasn't claimed on his 16th birthday and his desperation to be noticed by him. Instead it turned out he was the son of Mars, the god of war. That was a plot twist.

"What else do you know about the giants?" Jason asked.

Nico raised his eyebrows, "All I know is that Aigaion was slayed by Artemis by her firing arrows and that Molios, was killed after a bloody battle and the magical moly plant sprung out from his blood."

"What's a moly plant? Does it have something to do with moles?" Frank asked.

"It's a plant that protects the user from Magic, Hermes gave it to Odysseus when he visited Circe's island," Piper said matter-of-factly.

"You're just like a walking talking mythology book," Leo grumbled.

"Hey," Piper protested, "I only know half of the things because my dad was in the film."

"Your dad's in a film?" Frank asked.

"He's Tristan Mclean," Piper said not meeting Frank's eyes. Frank thought she was embarrassed Piper didn't seem to be the type who bragged about what she had, and rather kept it to herself.

"Seriously? That's awesome," Frank grinned.

Frank remembered watching the film last year King of Sparta with his mom before she died. He remembered how his mother began commenting on how the battle tactics were poorly performed saying the battle choreographer had never been in a war before and the rest of the cinema were begging her to shut up. At first Frank assumed she was making a joke about how there were no guns in the film, but now after read The Art of War he knew she was right the tactic were feebly done. He didn't mention this to Piper, just in case she took offence and made him walk into a wall continuously with her words.

Piper reminded Frank of the spell in Harry Potter, the one that the bad dudes used to get people to do whatever they wanted. The Imperius Curse. It freaked him out.

"Yes that's very awesome, but you know what's more awesome?" Hazel interrupted, "Saving Percy and Annabeth."

Nico sent an approving smile at his sister. Frank noticed that Nico rarely smiled or laughed, he smirked often, usually at Frank trying to get Hazel's attention.

"I had a dream last night," Jason muttered.

"Was I in it?" Hedge asked.

"Funnily enough no. Juno was there, she was showing me the beginnings of the Demigod Civil War how it began, and I think she was warning me that there's going to be a next one."

Frank almost forgot about the situation between the two camps. Unlike the majority of children of the war gods, he didn't like war. War caused unnecessary death, Frank had experienced that now, and fighting was never the best way to solve differences. Coach Hedge started grumbling it wasn't a good dream if he wasn't in it.

"I mentioned to Jason and Hazel that we may need to split up, and the more we get into the meeting, the more I think I'm right," Nico said, massaging his temples.

This was new to Frank. He stared at Hazel, she always told him everything, he entrusted her with his lifeline and she trusted him with sharing her past. That's how problems are easier, by sharing. And that's how Hazel and Frank worked.

_Although you're not the only one she trusts anymore_ a nagging voice in Frank's mind mentioned. He wished that voice would get trampled on by Arion.

Hazel noticed Frank staring at her and she tilted her head as if to ask him what's wrong, her lips pursed into a pout. Frank remembered the last and first time they kissed. Frank wanted to kiss her right then and now, however leaning across the table while discussing their friend's fate seemed inappropriate. But he was definitely tempted.

Frank got so absorbed in his thoughts about Hazel he forgot about the conversation and tried to attune himself back in.

"It would seem stupid that you and Hazel went to the House of Hades," Nico stated.

"And why would that be?" Jason inquired; he looked as if he wanted to blast Nico into a million pieces with his lightning powers.

"Because you're supposed to be dead."

Jason answered his mouth to protest but wasn't able to get the words out. Hazel never tried denying that she wasn't supposed to be dead; everyone on the Argo II knew, and recently she carried it with a pride not being ashamed that she once belonged on the Elysian Fields.

However Jason's supposed death was a shock to everyone, Piper's eyes widened and Leo dropped whatever he was fiddling with. Coach Hedge seemed as if he wanted to let loose at Nico with his bat, to knock some sense into him.

After a long period of quiet, Hazel summoned up the courage, "How did you die?" Her voice wasn't inquisitive yet soft and gentle. Hazel had experienced death first hand and it wasn't something to be blunt about.

Jason frowned, "It was a while ago, on my quest with Leo and Piper. We were at the wolf house, sacred grounds. To put it politely I saw Hera in all her glory, and demigods shouldn't survive that. With a mixture of Piper's charmspeak and the Doors of Death, I managed to come back. That right?" Jason turned to Nico.

"Exactly, and death usually likes to reclaim what belongs to it, so keeping Hazel and you a safe distance away from the Doors of Death would be best." Nico said.

"So where should we go?" Jason asked.

"Wait, so we won't be with Hazel and Jason?" Frank asked. He disliked this _a lot_. What if Hazel got hurt? Frank and Hazel were a team. Plus the last time everyone separated it didn't seem to go to well.

"Frank would you rather them be separated or risk them dying?" Nico asked his eyes meeting Frank's. Frank didn't like having eye contact with Nico, the intensity and sadness of his eyes made him feel uneasy.

Frank didn't answer, Nico was right and he knew he was.

"Jason, I think we should place the Athena Parthenos where it rightly belongs," Hazel said.

Jason frowned, his sky blue eyes being clouded, "I don't know, there looks like a good possibility of a Civil War and I think that's more important."

"Jason, they won't listen to us."

"Well maybe they'll listen to me."

"Right, like when they listened to you when you had a brick thrown at your head," Hazel muttered. Frank wondered whether Hazel was going to throw metallic items at Jason again, she had the same furious look on her face when Jason suggested Nico wasn't trustworthy.

Jason, on the other hand, looked incredibly offended. However before either one of the demigods used their superpowers on each other, Piper spoke up, "I think Hazel's right, they won't listen to them. But they'll listen to me."

Piper went into explaining on how her mother told her that she was supposedly the mediator between the two camps Frank thought that meant meditating but apparently not.

"Ok, so Piper, me and Hazel will go to Camp Half Blood and we'll make the two sides get along," Jason said.

"But what about the statue?" Hazel asked.

"Leo," Nico said. Frank almost forgot Leo was there, he was so incredibly silent and hadn't made an attempt-to-be-witty comment in a while. He looked up almost surprised he was here, his hands placing down whatever he was fiddling with and turned his head towards Nico. "You called?"

"While Piper and Jason are sorting out the camps, you and Hazel will place the Athena Parthenos where it should be. From what I heard from Hazel you're good with tools?"

What had Hazel been telling Nico? Frank wondered if she mentioned what happened on the quest in Alaska with him and her. He didn't exactly want Nico to be threatening him not to mess with his sister.

Leo just nodded and went back to his fiddling, without attempting to be funny or make a flirtatious remark with Hazel. Frank wondered what was up with him, but he doubted Leo would tell him if he asked.

Frank wanted to ask 'What about me, can't I go with them?', except he didn't know how to phrase that without sounding like a five year old begging for attention. It wasn't as if Frank didn't trust Hazel, he trusted her with his life, literally. It was that he didn't trust Leo Valdez.

Nico continued, "That leaves me with Frank and Hedge."

Frank had to restrain himself from moaning, being without Hazel was bad enough, but with the psycho faun who'd like to change lyrics to fit death? That was just too far. But instead of stropping like a child just accepted his duty and nodded.

Jason stood up, "Me and Piper will figure out a plan to do with the Camps and then we'll come straight back to Epirus."

Nico stood up, he seemed more powerful, confident and braver than he had been before, "Leo can you set the coordinates to dock the boats a port in Greece. We leave in the morning. It's bedtime now."

**Author's note: Replies to anonymous reviewers –**

**Anna - Thanks that was a lovely review!**

**Percybeth4ever – Will I do a Percy point of view? For now, no. I love my Percy to pieces, but I'm focusing on five characters – Annabeth, Jason, Hazel, Frank and Reyna, and the POVs are equally spread out, because a lot of the time, especially characters like Hazel and Frank, get overshadowed by the more popular characters like Percy and Leo.**

**But I'm planning to do a sequel where there will definitely be a Percy point of view. So for now you'll have to obtain his Seaweed Brain behaviour from Annabeth.**

**Clara of the sea – Got to love a little bit of LOTR and Harry Potter**

**Anne – I Apologise, it's a day late!**

**DeathtoGaia – Thanks! Basically Jason had a dream where it was set in the 1800s when the Civil War began. As Chiron mentions in The Lost Hero, the camps were once combined. Janus is a fully Roman God, therefore Charles is Roman, and as we know they're not as selective of the Gods as the Greeks, and the layout of the Camp would have been different. Plus it's refreshing to have a child of Janus, instead of the usual war type children who are usually perceived as aggressive.**

**Guest: ;)**

**Other Guest: On the love triangles I plan to stretch them out, because there is beautiful character development and they all have so much potential. And if I told you which one I'd prefer then there would be no more surprises!**


	6. FRANK VI

_**Note: **__Annabeth's POV has changed around with Jason's, Annabeth's is first and Jason's is second. Just in case you thought your fanfiction had mucked up. If you have no idea what I'm on about continue being blissfully unaware._

**Disclaimer: ****I still don't own this.**

**FRANK VI**

"**I THROW MY BAT IN THE AIR SOMETIMES, SAYING AYO, THIS MONSTER'S GONNA EXPLODE," **Coach Hedge belted in the early hours of the morning.

The crew of the Argo II were gathered on deck, and Frank was trying his hardest to keep his eyes open. He was not a morning person. The only person who seemed vaguely awake was Coach Hedge who was belting out lyrics about death.

"Is he going to sing that the whole time?" Nico murmured to Frank.

"Probably something worse, you should see his version of Gotta catch Em All," Frank replied.

Tempest, Jason's horse/storm spirit, was on deck crackling with electricity. Frank disliked horses ever since Arion had called him a Chinese Canadian baby man. He wondered if Tempest was thinking the same thing. Frank definitely preferred being a dragon than riding on a horse.

Hazel, on the other hand, was fascinated by Tempest, like she was fascinated by most horses. She kept on going about the movement and natural gaits. Whatever that was.

Leo was much more his usual self, making joking remarks and glancing at Hazel a bit too long for Frank's liking. He wondered if he'd get in trouble if he turned into a dragon, carried Leo off far, far away. Most likely.

They were an hour away from their destination, Rio port. They had to make dock it in a less mythological place as Gaia's powers would most likely be weaker.

Frank prayed to Neptune that the Argo II would be looked after; hoping that being a descendant made him a favourite. Plus the fact that he was friends with Percy. Except sometimes Gods like to annoy their favourites.

"Bye Frank," Jason said, shaking his hand. Frank couldn't help but notice how much more formal Jason was than Percy, maintaining that Roman attitude.

Piper hugged Frank which he was slightly taken back with. He hugged her back anyway. She smiled at him, "Don't have too much fun without us."

Frank grinned back, "It's a shame you're missing the monster action."

"No messing about you two," Hedge warned swinging his bat to demand authority, "Just because I'm not there doesn't mean I don't know what you're doing." Piper blushed slightly and Jason remained pokerfaced.

"Wait guys," Leo said, walking away from the control system, and handed Jason his sphere, "Here, I want you to give this to Nyssa or Jake, or anyone in my cabin. Tell them we got a whole new load of weapons supplied by Uncle Leo. Here's the code."

Jason looked at Leo sceptically, probably wondering if Leo would suddenly tear it away from him and go 'PHYCH', but he looked deadly serious. "Thanks man," Jason said.

Jason mounted Tempest, and Piper struggling a little bit, joined him. Frank hoped they'd be able to stop the two camps from fighting and return back safely, from what he heard about Jason Grace the guy should be able to do it blindfolded. Of course, tales always got exaggerated.

As they flew off, everyone's eyes were attached to them, as if they were expecting a giant monster to snatch them out of the air or for them to be struck by a god, being the positive friends they were. Surprisingly though, it never happened.

Frank walked off to a quiet place on deck and pulled out his bow and arrows. If he was going to the House of Hades he must make sure his aim was good because turning into a dragon was not the solution for everything.

He squinted and aimed at a small dot scratched on the deck. It hit, but a centimetre or two off. Frank frowned; he was a little bit rusty. Changing into a dragon could really damage a guy's archery skills. He continued doing shooting arrows until it was continuously perfect, hitting his target exactly every time.

Frank got ready for another shot, the arrow lined to faultlessness. He pulled the string of the bow back, trying to get the amount of pressure and-

_Ladies, oh wait there's only Hazel. Lady, gentlemen and satyr, we are five minutes away from our destination, we will be at Rio port in five minutes, I repeat five minutes. Best for all of you to be on deck, so we suddenly don't get anyone abducted by monsters,_ Leo's voice rang through the Argo II.

When Frank walked to the main deck, he saw Nico and Coach Hedge having a heated discussion, by heated discussion Coach Hedge was yelling where Nico was cool and calm. Hazel was sitting down, her golden hair tucked behind her ears with a pencil and some paper in her hand.

Frank moved towards her and saw what she was sketching. It was the seven demigods, plus Nico and Hedge. Hazel had captured their faces perfectly, Annabeth looking smart and intimidating yet still managing to be pretty, Percy had his easy-going smile. Nico, didn't look how Frank expected him to be, he stood taller and slightly more confident, but that's how Hazel saw him.

"That's amazing," Frank breathed.

Hazel smiled, "I'm pretty pleased with it."

"Could you draw me turning into a dragon instead?" Frank asked and Hazel laughed.

"Nope, because you're perfect in your human form."

Frank started to smile like crazy when Hazel called him perfect, he had to remind himself he wasn't a twelve year old girl, he was sixteen.

She folded up the drawing and placed it in the back pocket of her jeans, when Frank asked why she didn't put it away down in her room, she smiled, but it was one of those smiles full of pain and sorrow beyond Frank's years, and that's when he remembered she was decades older, "Why not?"

Frank knew there was no argument with that.

Leo said, "Landing in two minutes, I repeat-"

"Get on with it Valdez," Coach yelled.

Hazel looked over at Leo, her expression unreadable but she looked at him for a long time, she returned her attention to Frank. "It's beautiful isn't it."

Frank was going to go into several reason why Leo Valdez wasn't beautiful and then he realised she was talking about Greece. And she was right, the weather was one of those days where it was beautiful and sunny, not a cloud in the sky, and Greece seemed to come to life. The white buildings looked sparkling from the distance, and Frank wondered whether the Greek Camp looked like this, he hope it did.

Hazel squeezed his hand, "We're landing."

When the Argo II landed in Rio port, Frank didn't known what the humans saw. He wondered if it looked like a cruise ship, or maybe a really fat whale got stuck in the port. Either one, no one was paying attention to the descending demigods.

Arion was there, waiting as casually as a magical horse could. No one seemed to notice him to, maybe they always had magical horses chilling in Rio port.

He looked at them as if to say, _About time [insert swear word of your choice]. _

"Frank, I need help with the statue, pronto," Leo said, "Turn into a bird or whatever that flies and cut off the ropes."

Frank found the transformations easier and easier now. All he had to do was think of the animal, and with minimal weirdness in his body he changed into it. He morphed into an eagle, one of his favourites, along with an elephant and a dragon.

The Athena Parthenos was dazzling in the sunlight and shining like a beacon. As if it was trying to say 'fresh demigods over here! Eat one get another free'. Frank flew and with his talons clawed at the ropes while Leo threw some more ropes around the Athena Parthenos and tied it to Arion.

"That's not for you to eat Arion," Hazel laughed. Frank had to admit the horse looked pretty annoyed.

"Gold tastes good," Coach Hedge nodded, approving Arion's taste buds, "Most transition metals are."

Finally the Athena Parthenos was attached to Arion and detached from the Argo II. Leo was saying a few words to Festus on his ship, treating it as if it was his best friend. Hazel was saying farewell to Nico, both of them smiling.

"See you sis. You don't understand how proud of you I am Bia-," Nico coughed, "Hazel."

Hazel suddenly looked slightly sad but a smile replaced that seconds after, "Be safe. And if it's worth anything, I'm proud of you too."

Frank walked towards Hazel. He hugged her, her head just reaching his shoulders; she buried her face into his chest. Her brush a piece of her golden hair from her face, "I'll miss you," he said.

"You too," Hazel murmured into his chest.

Hazel pulled out from the hug, her eyes not quite meeting Franks, "Try not to get hurt Frank."

Frank wish he had the confidence of Leo and Percy, where they would brush aside that comment with a joke, or laugh in the face of danger. Or be like Jason who loved to be challenged in a fight. But he wasn't, he was Frank Zhang, and he was slightly worried of getting hurt.

"I'll do my best," he said.

Leo bounded off the Argo II, gave a longing glance to the boat and made eye contact with Frank. Frank nodded at him trying to hint that they were friendly, but with the subtle undertone of _if you hurt Hazel, prepared to be attacked by an elephant_. Leo looked at him, and Frank wondered if his nod made him looked like he was just twitching.

Hazel waved at Frank, her smile making the sun look dull. She leaped on Arion with effortless grace, and Leo who fell off on his first attempt and face planted the ground finally got on.

Hazel's golden eyes fixated on Frank, and for a moment Frank forgot about everyone else, he forgot about the tourist, the other crew members, even Leo whose arms were wrapped around Hazel's waist. It was just him and her, gazing into each other's eyes.

Arion reared, standing on his hind legs, as if showing off to everyone he was Superhorse. Hazel laughed and Leo looked like he was about to wet himself, and then Arion sped across into the distance with the Athena Parthenos raking the ground.

It was silent for a moment. Frank was already thinking about the next time he'd see Hazel, the next conversation they'd have, the next time he'd make her laugh. He was interrupted by Coach Hedge doing a fist pump in the air, "Let's bring down some monster!" He yelled.

That attracted tourists' attention. They looked at Hedge as if he was a small mad man, and they were right about that. But they ignored the massive boat behind him, or the drag marks of a statue, as you do. But as soon as they looked, they left as if he was a mildly interesting TV show and they were in a rush.

Frank said, "I hate to break it to you, but we're not at the House of Hades yet. So the monster bringing downing will have to be saved for later."

"Well what are you waiting for boy? Turn into a dragon!" Hedge commanded.

Frank looked at Nico, hoping for him to come up with an answer. He didn't mind turning into a dragon, in fact, he thought it was pretty cool. He knew the humans would be fooled and probably think he was just a giant aeroplane. But what about Molios and Aigaion? They could probably smell a demigod or a dragon miles away.

Nico smirked, "Frank, Hedge, let me show you the magic of shadow travelling."

"Is that like a Pokémon move?" Frank asked. Frank hoped that his mentioning of Pokémon wouldn't inspire Hedge to belt a chorus of Gotta Kill 'Em All, or just remind him of any of the offensive and scary songs he'd like to belt out.

Nico raised his eyebrows, "Shadow travelling is a method of transport used by underworld kids, I can do it, so can a few of the Hecate cabin except they pass out for a day or two, but that's not the point. You travel using the shadows; the hint is in its name."

"Oh," Frank said. He didn't like feeling stupid, especially after that Chinese handcuff incident. Maybe he should keep his questions to himself.

"I hope none of you are scared of the dark, weird noises or fast speeds. Let's go," Nico said as he gripped Hedge's and Frank's hand as they wondered off into the shadows.

**Next chapter will be up on Friday due to maths exams (I lead an incredibly exciting life)**

**Anon reviews -**

**Anonymous – Thank you so much. Four for you Anonymous, you go Anonymous! I changed the chapters around which means a sooner Annabeth POV c:**

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	7. HAZEL VII

**HAZEL VII**

**HAZEL KEPT ON REPLAYING THE LAST TIME SHE SAW PERCY AND ANNABETH**, and each time she replayed it she became more and more furious with herself for doing nothing except scream. She felt as useless as one of Octavian's discarded Teddy bears. And she didn't think it was even possible to feel that useless.

She could have tried to control the rocks around the chasm, and possibly she could have saved them, or she could have tried to cut off the web enveloped around Annabeth's foot before it was too late. Every time she reminisced, she had numerous what ifs?

Tears were forming in her eyes; out of frustration and that she was going hundreds of miles per hour.

Leo's arms were wrapped around her waist. And Hazel liked the way his slender fingers rested and started drumming slightly.

Hazel scolded herself. She was in a relationship with Frank not Leo. Loyal, sweet Frank.

She rode on Arion, feeling free as he galloped across Greece. She closed her eyes embracing the strong impact from riding too fast and the Greek sun shining on her bare skin and drifted to her conversation with Leo last night.

_The horrific dreams woke Hazel up. As they always do. The replaying of her death clutching her mother's arm, except the pain intensified, and then it shifted to the underworld, and her mother was there. The sight of her mother wondering misguidedly in the underworld was too much._

_She wondered to the lounge. Hazel needed a hot chocolate, or something comforting like that. Maybe Shrimp Gumbo. Anything that could distract her._

_When she first walked in the longue, she missed him at first; he was hunched up in the corner with a cup of coffee silently toying with his sphere. And she went off in the opposite direction grabbing a goblet. She only noticed him when he swore loudly and the sphere dropped to the ground._

_Hazel turned around, ready to attack whatever swore with hot chocolate. The preferable weapon for demigods. _

_When she saw Leo, her heart still thumped loudly and quickly as it did when she was surprised. But for completely different reasons._

_Hazel spoke the first thing that came in her mind, "Is it safe for you to drink coffee?"_

_Leo glanced up, probably just noticing she was in the room too. He smiled and Hazel couldn't help but notice the similarity of the smile to Sammy's, "Well, you know me, I love to live on the edge of danger."_

"_Leo, have you even slept?"_

_Leo frowned, as if trying to remember what sleep is, slowly he shook his head, "I don't think so."_

_He buzzed with nervous energy, his hands couldn't stop moving, and his eyes flickered from Hazel to sphere at the speed of Arion. Leo dozed with caffeine reminded Hazel of the Kool Aid addicted Dakota._

_Hazel sat next to him, sipping her hot chocolate. He smelt of motor oil and metal, Hazel didn't mind though, she quite liked it._

_There were a million and one things Hazel wanted to talk about to Leo. That what happened to Percy and Annabeth wasn't his fault, coming up with a plan for the Athena Parthenos, that she wanted Frank and Leo to get along and about Sammy. Most importantly she wanted to talk to Leo about the both of them. Except she couldn't find the words to say, so she just sat next to him in comfortable silence._

_Leo seemed like he wanted to say something as well. Occasionally he would look up from the sphere and gaze at Hazel, open his mouth to say something, but thought better of it and returned to the sphere._

"_Hey Hazel," Leo finally said, "Can you grab a plate for me?"_

_Hazel did so. "Why do you need a plate?"_

"_Well, Miss Metal Detector, the question is why do you need a plate?"_

_Hazel was really confused now. Leo grinned, "Think of chicken nuggets."_

"_Why do chicken nuggets have anything to with.." Hazel stopped suddenly realising, "You want me to eat a chicken nugget?"_

_Leo nodded, "I believe the Great Prophecy will fail if you don't eat a chicken nugget."_

"_Funny, I don't remember that in the prophecy."_

_Leo laughed, "Really? It's Seven half-bloods must answer the call, if Hazel Levesque doesn't eat a chicken nugget the world will fall."_

"_Ah," Hazel sighed, "The auguries must have recorded it down wrong."_

_They both started laughing and didn't stop until Hazel's sides ached and her eyes began to water. The last time she laughed like that must have been in Alaska when she was with Percy and Frank._

_Hazel concentrated and six chicken nuggets appeared on her plate. Hazel had to admit, despite the fact they looked like the unhealthiest thing Hazel had ever seen, they did smell pretty good._

_Leo grabbed one from off of her plate and shoved it in his mouth, he signalled for Hazel to do the same._

_Hazel looked at Leo, and he grinned devilishly. Here goes nothing, Hazel thought as she took a bite of her first chicken nugget._

_Hazel recommends you shouldn't eat chicken nuggets in 1) You dislike processed food 2) You dislike fat or 3) You don't want Leo to watch your face when you're eating it. To sum it up Hazel thought it was awesome._

_In a matter of seconds the chicken nuggets were engulfed by Hazel and Leo._

_It wasn't as good as Shrimp Gumbo, however it left her craving more, but she didn't want to seem greedy._

_Leo looked at Hazel, except this time his eyes weren't playful or buzzing hundreds of miles per hour. There was a sadness in them. Hazel remembered what Nemesis said about Leo being the seventh wheel, she wondered if he still felt isolated from the rest. She hoped he didn't, Leo deserved to be happy._

"_I was thinking about running away," Leo said._

_Running away? Hazel didn't know much about Leo's past aside from Sammy being his great granddad. Hazel was familiar with spending little time with her family; she escaped her mother for as long as she could and then returning at night time. But running away?_

_She gripped his hand, the same way she had done when Leo thought Percy and Annabeth's disappearance into Tartarus was his entire fault. She was never the best with people, being daughter of Pluto, but she knew reassurance was nice._

"_Leo I-" Hazel was going to begin to say she was sorry about he had the need to run away, but what does sorry change? "Leo you're worth it. Honest to the gods."_

_Leo started opening up, Hazel knew he was confessing things to her that very little people heard of before, his mother's death and the guilt, the foster homes, how Hera babysat him, the quest and how he still believed it was his fault that Percy and Annabeth fell, and Hazel listened, because Leo didn't need someone to comfort him, he just needed someone to listen. He began to explain running was a coping mechanism, and in the past few months he spent an unusually long time at Camp Half-Blood. _

_And after he was done, Hazel began to talk, everything about her past, her mother, her school, she was even honest about Sammy, which killed he. She never told Frank that Sammy has kissed her on the cheek, and Leo listened._

_After she finished talking, she felt lighter, as if a big weight had been removed from her chest and she could breather freely. She finally talked about her past properly._

_There was silence for a few moments, Hazel and Leo taking in what they had heard and said, but it was a relaxing kind of silence._

"_We're a little bit messed up," Leo sighed._

"_A little bit?"_

_Leo smiled again and Hazel was happy that he was happier; before she knew what she was doing she hugged him._

_It was different from hugging Frank, Leo was much smaller in width and height and didn't feel like an oversized teddy bear, and they smelt different. _

"_Um guys," Piper stood in the hallway fiddling with her knife, "Jason and I are leaving in a few minutes."_

_Hazel bounded away from Leo and almost fell over. Oh gods, she shouldn't be hugging Leo, she had Frank._

_Piper's eyes looked at her and for some reason Hazel expected them to be cold and calculating as if judging her that she hugged another boy in a non-brother like way. But they were soft and kind. Piper almost felt like a sister to Hazel, despite that they've only known each other for a few days. It seemed odd, Piper was such a people person, and Hazel, well, wasn't. But they seemed to get along like a house on fire._

_Leo and Hazel looked at one another, holding eye contact for longer than needed. And they filed on to the deck to say their farewells to Piper and Jason, and hope that they didn't die while trying to maintain peace._

Arion came to halt and whinnied loudly, interrupting Hazel's thoughts. She slid off him not being remotely unfazed by the speed whereas Leo, who looked slightly green.

Hazel gasped; Athens was beautiful. She felt she was living in a timeless era, and if she really imagined it, instead of the modern tourists she pictured people with togas, some armed and some without a weapon.

The pavements were cobbled, the sky was incredibly blue and the buildings were amazing. Athens was that place you'd remember forever, and would always remain within you.

Hazel wished Annabeth was here, not just because she missed her and she was easily the smartest person she'd ever met. And despite the fact that she deserved to see the statue of Athena placed in the Parthenos, but because Percy mentioned Annabeth's love for architecture, she'd be captivated by Athens and the structure of it all. She also wished Percy was here, so he could hold her hand while they explored Athens together.

Leo seemed just as amazed as Hazel, his mouth was agape and both of them probably looked like really lost tourists because one guy came up to them and asked if they needed directions. At this point, Leo pulled out a map of Athens from his tool belt and assured him that they weren't lost, well not yet anyway. Somehow the tourist failed to see the Athena Parthenos attached to Arion, but did comment that Arion was a 'pretty' horse. Arion and Hazel weren't too pleased with that.

"Well," Leo said reading the map, "We're behind a few metres the Parthenos so I suggest we wait until night time to put the statue back because we may look a little suspicious."

Suspicious was an understatement, they had an artefact that had been missing for centuries with a magical horse, plus two demigods who were on Gaia's most wanted list.

Hazel climbed on top of Arion again, "We'll need to find someplace discreet nearby so we camp out."

Leo hauled himself up, breathing heavily. "A few miles away there's a few trees, we could conceal ourselves in them."

Arion, being Arion, went off at a lightning speed and they were there in a matter of seconds. Hazel hoped the Athena Parthenos wasn't too badly damage, she felt the seven were already unlucky enough, they didn't want the goddess of wisdom to hold a grudge against them. That would just be too unlucky.

Fortunately, the face was perfect with no dents.

"Leo, you should get some sleep, you look like Pluto," Hazel said.

Leo tried to fake shock but yawned half way through his expression. "Maybe I should."

He pulled out blankets from his tool belt, how he managed to get them there confused Hazel. Most modern technology confused Hazel so she decided not to mention it; she'd just be confused more with Leo's complex explanation.

He started snoring a few minutes later. The heavy snoring when you don't get enough sleep, but it wasn't loud enough to attract any giants, so that was good.

Hazel just hoped Leo would have a peaceful sleep. And no dog walker, or giant, would interrupt it.

**Next chapter on Tuesday! Oh and just a quickie, as I'm British I spell words slightly differently to the American way e.g I spell colour like that, and the Americans spell 'color'.**

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**Anonymous reviews:**

**Fixer- Of course I'm not offended! There's two ways of spelling Gaia/Gaea and I've adopted the G-a-i-a way and as I said above I'm British so there are slightly different spellings. That's an awesome score thanks so much! I'll see if I can increase it though ;)**

**Guest – I love Hedge, and in Frank's next chapter Nico gets a super large role!**

**Sarrah – It stands for point of view.**

**Guest – On it!**

**Guest – Thanks lovely!**

**Cuddlypup91 – Glad you enjoyed it!**

**Ch33tahP4w – I would PM this but fanfiction won't allow me D: Anyways thanks a lot!**

**Huge thanks to everyone who's reviewed/followed/favorited. I want to personally hand every one of you a blue waffle. Metaphorically speaking of course, I don't even know where to make or get blue waffles.**


	8. ANNABETH VIII

**Disclaimer: Just looked at my birth certificate, unlike previous belief, I am not Rick Riordan.**

**Hola fellow demigods. This chapter was supposed to be chapter 11, however making you wait that long seemed cruel, especially after the cliffhanger, so without further ado, Annabeth's chapter -**

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**ANNABETH VIII**

**ANNABETH TRIED NOT TO HYPERVENTILATE**, but she was struggling to breathe, as her Seaweed Brain, was lying out cold due to Arachne.

Annabeth tried deep breathing, a slow breath in and a slow breath out. But that still didn't calm her racing breath.

Before she knew it, she was kneeling over Percy, knife in hand and trying to cut off the cobwebs without hurting him. She could see he was breathing but that was it. No sign of moment, no fluttering eyelids, just breathing.

Meanwhile she kept her senses alert, ready to pounce at any sign of movement or sound. Even though her Seaweed Brain was in danger, she couldn't let her guard fall down. The little spiders which led her to Percy had disappeared, no doubt informing their mother.

In a matter of minutes the cobwebs were off Percy there was still no sign of movement but at least he didn't look as if he had been mummified by spiders.

With the light being produced by Daedalus'' laptop Annabeth could see a shadow of a leg. But not a human leg. A large hairy spider leg. Annabeth stood up and held a protective stance over Percy. Arachne was only a few feet away.

The last battle with Arachne Annabeth had managed to trick her, and it startled Annabeth how alike she and Arachne were. Hubris and their strive for perfection being the downfall for them both. Arachne wasn't going to make her a tapestry of how Annabeth was going to die now; monsters only make that mistake once.

Now it was Arachne, Annabeth and her knife. And the stakes were very, very high.

Arachne stepped into Annabeth's view. With the dim light Annabeth could see Arachne was slightly limping, whether Percy did that or it was the drop to Tartarus, Annabeth didn't know. But an unknown advantage was still an advantage.

Time to avenge Athena.

Arachne's black eyes were focused on Annabeth filled with greed and hunger. Annabeth returned the look by giving her most terrifying glare.

Battle tactics in Annabeth's brain were whizzing at impossible speeds. With smaller spiders they were easy to kill with bug spray. Sadly, Annabeth didn't have a big enough can to kill Arachne with spray. So she had to focus on another weakness.

Arachne's legs didn't look particularly sturdy however if Annabeth attempted to go near she'd probably have cobwebs attacking her face. Arachne may not have the best aims but the webs were much quicker than any demigod.

Percy made a noise and Annabeth quickly turned her attention to him and his eyelids started to flutter. At least her Seaweed Brain wasn't in a coma. That was always a plus.

But turning her attention away from Arachne was a big mistake.

A silk strand shot from the monsters spinnerets and Annabeth only just dodged or otherwise she would have been attached to the cavern wall.

Arachne had made the first attack. Annabeth's mind drifted to their recent conversation that she could only make a limited amount of silk. Perhaps if Annabeth could make her use up all the silk she wouldn't be attacked long distance.

Arachne had already used a fair bit of silk to cover up Percy, not a thick layer as it was easy to cut off. But still it would be deducted from Arachne's silk total.

Annabeth started to run in various directions making Arachne shoot silk uncontrollably. The good thing about going to Camp Half Blood at a young age is that they taught you had to run quick.

Arachne hadn't learnt Annabeth's plan, she looked slightly confused that Annabeth was running away, probably assuming that Annabeth was hell-bent on avenging her mother and going for a clean straight kill. Not retreating, but the less Arachne knew the better.

Out of the corner of Annabeth's eye, Percy's eyes were open but he didn't move and his breathing was ragged as if he had just run a race. Even Annabeth's current breathing was steadier and she was actually running.

Once again by being distracted by Percy she almost got impaled by cobwebs and this miss was closer than the last.

It was comforting to see Arachne was struggling now, her silk strands were becoming less frequent and the aim was slightly worse. However certain parts of the wall and floor were covered with sticky cobwebs and Annabeth had to be careful, very careful.

Annabeth was panting heavily, her foot was burning and Annabeth knew it was essential for her to top up on Ambrosia but her backpack was next to Percy who was now groaning. Which Annabeth found incredibly distracting.

Of course Arachne used Annabeth's latest diversion against her, and shot a web at her. This time Annabeth didn't have time or space to dodge.

But thanks to the amount of silk Arachne already produced, hardly any silk was attached to Annabeth and most likely it wasn't the best quality. Annabeth carefully removed the silk ensuring that every strand was removed. She didn't want to fall with Arachne again.

Annabeth moved closer towards the Mother spider confidently. Her ankle sending fiery sharp pains every step and Annabeth did her best not to wince.

Last time she had refused to kill Arachne because she was helpless and Annabeth didn't kill the weak. It was morally wrong. Now they were equals; Arachne had no silk left and Annabeth had a broken leg. So she would have no problem killing the monster.

Annabeth limped towards Arachne and the monster pounced.

Annabeth rolled to the side and slashed at one of the legs. She hoped Arachne would transport similarly to how the Cyclops did. She knew hoping for Arachne to be gone forever wouldn't be likely. But never meeting her again sounded nice.

Although Percy wasn't lucky with that Minotaur.

Arachne let out a cry of a pain as the ichor trickled down her hairy leg. 1 point to Annabeth Chase.

Whether the cry of pain was just feigning it or was genuine and she quickly attacked Annabeth didn't know. However one second she was standing the next she was flung into the air and landed on the floor. Right where Arachne's silk was.

_Struggling won't help_, Annabeth reminded herself. It would probably only get her in a deeper mess and then she'd be a sacrifice. That wasn't in Annabeth's to-do list.

Carefully, yet quickly she removed the cobwebs with her knife. In the meantime Arachne steadily limped over to her and when Annabeth was finished, Arachne was hovering over her.

Lunging Annabeth got another of Arachne's legs.

Arachne must need a certain amount of legs to support her large abdomen. The Athena Cabin always knew facts about spiders, best to keep your enemies close.

Three legs damaged and Annabeth was proud to admit she'd hurt two of them, Arachne could cope with five good legs, possibly four, but Annabeth doubted she'd manage to cope with three.

But once again, Annabeth's ankle burned with such pain that she keeled to the floor and her legs felt out beneath her, and she blanked out for a moment. Then as she quickly gained consciousness Arachne leant over her and Annabeth almost gagged at her breath. Arachne hadn't had a breath mint in a long time.

Arachne's smile was twisted, "This time you will not have the pleasure to experience my weaving. I'm just going to kill you know."

Maybe most demigods would give up now, accept their fate. However Annabeth was the most stubborn demigod and really hated Arachne. Not fear but boiling hate. She could feel her knife in her hand and chucked it upwards, using the right amount velocity and force to pierce Arachne's abdomen.

Arachne let out a wail as all her legs collapsed beneath her right on top of Annabeth.

The monsters weight crushed Annabeth, and her breath got knocked out of her, but before Annabeth started to suffocate Arachne disappeared just like the Cyclops.

Steadily, Annabeth rose, cobwebs were still surrounding the cavern however there was no sign of Arachne or her miniature spider minions.

Annabeth found it laughable a few days ago she was terrified of spiders. She still didn't like them but she wasn't scared and now she hand finally beaten the mother monster. Her dad wouldn't believe her when she told him. She wasn't the little girl at home who ran away when the spiders came too much anymore. She was girl who faced her fears now.

She wiped her knife on her jeans. Cobwebs and ichor was not a pretty look,

Movement startled Annabeth. She leaped into a defensive position and she saw Percy attempting to get up but managed to lose his footing.

"Percy, what's wrong?" Annabeth asked trying not to cry at the fact her boyfriend looked pale and weak and was stumbling backwards.

Percy didn't say anything so Annabeth inspected him. She noticed there were punctures in his shirt. The punctures looked like bite marks. Annabeth didn't even have to think was wrong. "She bit you, didn't she?"

Annabeth wanted to scream, she knew for a fact that ambrosia didn't cure poison. And in camp only Chiron, the Apollo or the Hecate kids knew what to do. They had spells, songs or old remedies that would help. Annabeth had neither of those and she doubted Daedalus'' laptop could provide her with what she needed.

Even if she had an ocean Percy might have been able to recover himself.

_But you might be able to create an ocean yourself_, the voice in the back of Annabeth's head said. Annabeth always loved that voice.

She picked up the laptop and placed it in a rucksack and then fumbled around until she found the Cornucopia. She picked up her bag and put it on her shoulders and once she had a firm grip of the Cornucopia she positioned it towards Percy, closed her eyes and started to think.

She thought about that time when she was twelve and Percy and Ares had a show down at the beach. Or just sailing through the sea of monsters and when she was swimming to the Sirens. The waves that overlooked Mount Tam. The rivers that flowed through New York. The time when she was five and her dad took her down to the beach. Percy's salty lips.

A tsunami wave poured out of the Cornucopia and Annabeth struggled to keep her grip.

The water was rising up to her shins and she would have probably drowned Percy if he wasn't able to breathe in the water. One of the many perks of being a child of Poseidon.

Slowly the water when from a tsunami, to waves, to a trickle, to a drip and then nothing. Annabeth shoved it in her bag. The water was now waist high and there was no Percy yet.

Suddenly, a head appeared and Annabeth saw the sea green eyes and that cocky grin as her Seaweed Brain strolled towards her.

He looked perfectly healthy, his cuts had disappeared and he looked as tanned as he did when Annabeth met him in Camp Jupiter. Although he had some cobweb in his hair so Annabeth had to brush that out.

The two demigods just stared at each other for a minute. A silent celebration that they were together again, but Annabeth didn't say it aloud in fear of jinxing it.

"So what did I miss?" Percy said.

Annabeth rolled her eyes, wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. Like she usually did when he said or did something stupid, which Annabeth noticed was a lot. His lips tasted salty.

"Nothing much," She grinned.

The ground started to tremble and Annabeth's stomach dropped again. Tartarus was going to make them fall for the third time.

This time Annabeth took no risks as she kept her arms around Percy's neck and his hands were firmly planted on her waist. See if Tartarus could make them separate now. Annabeth hoped Tartarus didn't take that as a challenge.

Tartarus was in vacuum mode again, the floor breaking and water gushing down and Annabeth felt as if she weighed a thousand kilograms as they hurtled towards the darkness.

* * *

**Anonymous reviews:**

**ch33tahp4w Bless you. Round of applause to you!**

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**RickFan – Voila, Percy and Annabeth!**

**Guest – Next chapter is Hazel's POV**


	9. HAZEL IX

**Disclaimer:**** Apparently I don't own this. My whole life has been a lie.**

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**HAZEL IX**

**THANKFULLY LEO'S SLEEP WASN'T INTERUPPTED** by giants nor a dog walker, but a two-headed snake was a different story.

Hazel was practicing moves with her spatha and incorporating Greek moves in her Roman methods. It made Percy like a fighting machine with the slashing and using the butt of the sword instead of the casual Roman stab. She even found it easier to use the Greek method whilst on horseback, slashing at a faster speed made more of an impact.

Meanwhile, Leo was hibernating in Leo Land.

Hazel found it liberating to practice with her sword, without the centurions' focus on her every move she was able to do whatever techniques she wanted, and she really needed to practice fighting horseback.

She spent hours practicing and felt the same burn she did when she was fighting with the Fifth Cohort, except she did it alone. Hazel was used to being alone; she spent years in the underworld with no one to talk to alone, and months in Alaska. Not to mention the Fifth Cohort before Frank came.

She also sketched a little bit more, focusing on the details on the seven's faces, she was trying to get Piper's eyes just right and make Jason's scar subtle but visible. She decided to add Leo's tool belt to the drawing as well, as it was like Leo's extra limb.

When she focused on Leo's drawing she began to notice the differences between Leo and Sammy. Sammy's eyes were a shade lighter and Leo's hair curled slightly different.

Hazel lost track of time and it soon became dark. She knew the Parthenos would be closed by now and she'd have to wake Leo up. The guy looked so peaceful and innocent in his sleep Hazel let him continue and would wake him up a little later.

When Hazel's breathing sounded like a dog panting, and her muscles began to ache she decided it was a good idea to rest. She found a rock to sit by, and closed her eyes. And that's when the two-headed snake appeared.

Hazel was planning on what movements to do next, maybe work on her swiftness or work on using the butt of her sword, when the slithering of the body was heard and the casual hissing.

Hazel opened one eye, trying not to make any sudden noise or movement. You only needed to learn that once.

Hazel wished she had kept that eye closed. What she saw made her take a sharp intake of breath. It wasn't every day she saw a giant two headed snake.

The snake was at least 20ft long, its scaly skin a midnight black, barely visible in the night. The most disturbing part was the two faces, one where the head should be and another where the tail should be. Each identical with fluorescent green eyes and a purple liquid leaking out from its jaw. And of course the jaw had to be set with fangs that could rip buildings apart.

Hazel's _spatha _was lying right next to her and she wondered if the movement would disturb the snake. She hoped she could just slice the head off the snake, but it could be like a Hydra and grow right back. Hopefully not.

Leo was still snoring like there was no tomorrow, and if the snake wasn't destroyed there may be no tomorrow. And Arion had wondered off looking for something to eat. Again.

The snake wasn't interested in the two demigods, it was going in between them, and then Hazel's heart dropped. A giant snake may want a demigod snack, but statues were probably better. And it didn't help that the Athena Parthenos was bright gold and more noticeable than Leo and Hazel.

Hazel did what any rational demigod would do; she grabbed her spatha and charged at the snake.

Bad idea.

One of the snake's heads turned towards her, and the eyes which were so menacing almost made her freeze with fright. It made a gurgling sound and then venom spat out of its mouth. Hazel only just managed to get out of her terrified trance and rolled away from the snake's spit. Where the venom hit, there was a sizzling hole in the ground and the grass was reduced to nothing.

It seemed as though it were not enough for poison to be poured out of one mouth. Two or more was needed.

Hazel regained her stance and charged for the snake again. She was quick and light on her feet, all the legion training had done her well, and she dodged the attacks easily. After all, she had faced scarier things than a snake. Admittedly it was a really big snake with two heads.

Hazel doubted where to attack the monster. It could possibly grow back heads if she tried to execute it. But she'd never heard of a monster that was able to grow back eyes.

The snake was still, anticipating her action. Hazel was glad she felt nervous. When she became nervous that's when she could feel the precious gems rising up to the surface.

A ruby, no bigger than the palm of her hand appeared. Hazel prayed to whatever gods decided to listen that this would work.

She picked up the ruby, remaining eye contact with the snake and threw it. She threw it at one of its eyes.

The snake didn't respond. Maybe it never had demigods throwing gems at it before and it didn't know how to act. Or maybe it was just really stupid. Either way Hazel had blinded one eye. A ruby was wedged where the fluorescent green eye should be.

Sometimes curses could be useful, it was just how you looked at them.

She moved towards to where she hit the eye, one of the snake's head was focusing on the Athena Parthenos and the other snake head, with only one eye, was glaring at her. Contemplating what sauce she would go best with.

Hazel wished she was like the others, able to shout insults at the monsters like Percy, or outwit them in a conversation like Annabeth, or prove her authority like Jason. But she fought the monster in silence.

Hazel moved towards the side where there was no eye. She couldn't feel any metal beneath the ground. Or none that would appear to the surface quickly.

The snake once again stayed still, and then it pounced. It was fast, insanely fast, and soon the head that was facing the statue was now facing her, and vice versa. Arion was faster though, but he wasn't here.

Maybe the snake wasn't that stupid.

The gurgling noise began again. Hazel had died once and she wasn't planning on doing it again for a long time, or at least not at the hands of a snake. She jumped on top of the snake head and just missed the jet of poison being issued from the snake, grabbed her spatha and stabbed the one of the snake's eyes, losing balance before she managed to attack the other. And sidestepped of the snake's head, and for a moment it laid still.

Two eyes down, two more to go.

Hazel's hands were shaking; she didn't know she felt that nervous. Perhaps it was the green eyes that seemed to reach into her soul or the fact that it was a two-headed snake with poisonous fangs. Either way she couldn't control her hands.

She wanted Leo's help, however if she called out his name she could draw the snake's attention to him, ultimately risking his life. Hazel knew how fragile life was so she decided to handle this alone.

_Be brave Hazel Levesque._

She didn't have much time to compose herselfbefore the snake charged.

The snake was so close Hazel could almost taste the poison and started to gag, however before she was the monster's meal she managed to thrust her sword upwards. Her hand barely missing the fangs that would have sent her back to the underworld.

The snake drew back and looked at her with calculating eyes. Hazel had previously learnt that the snake wasn't stupid, but it seemed intelligent, as If analysing her.

"Hazel, I may be dreaming but it looks like you're fighting a big snake," Leo said, yawning half-way through.

About time, Hazel thought. But aloud she said, "Aim for the eye."

The beast may have had poor eyesight, but it wasn't deaf and Leo caught the attention of the snake. The snake's head near the gold statue and closest to Leo faced him, showing its fangs. Hazel wanted to scream for him to move but he seemed transfixed just like Hazel did the first time.

But then the earth moved and the dirt was forming in the shape of a woman, or a goddess.

Gaia laughed. Her voice was more awake than ever, _Leo Valdez was Hazel and Frank really worth the cost of Annabeth and Percy?_

Hazel gritted her teeth and was about to show Gaia what she could do with a _spatha_ when she realised she couldn't move. Her feet were sinking slowly into the ground as if she was tied to a million bricks. And even worse the Athena Parthenos was sinking as well.

Leo's eyes flicked from Hazel to Gaia, wondering what to say. "Don't listen to her Leo," Hazel cried.

Gaia faced towards Hazel, and Hazel felt the fierceness build up in her like it did in Alaska many years ago. She was able to move her feet now, but she knew it was her own accord that allowed her to do that. She swung her spatha, trying to look as menacing as a thirteen year old could.

_You chose the wrong side Hazel Levesque, _Gaia said and Hazel could have sworn she smirked.

Hazel still stuck by her decision whether that resulted in her death or not, and for the second time today she charged at a horrid creature. Her muscles were sore and she knew the next day she'd regret the training she did, but she charged at full pace.

Gaia melted in the ground again when Hazel came close.

"Coward," Hazel muttered.

The snake was still there, glaring at Leo who was once again transfixed by the green eyes. Slowly the snake writhed to form a U shape allow both of the snake's heads to positioned towards Leo, who was vacantly staring at them.

They were inches away, moving inch by inch. The snake could easily consume Leo whole and Hazel's hands became clammy at the thought.

Hazel ran towards him, she wasn't going to let Leo get hurt. But then Leo Valdez burst into flames.

The snake erupted with a blood-curdling squeal, which made Hazel fall to her knees, her brain vibrating from the noise. Hazel wanted it to stop there was a slight reminder of her mother's and her screams in Alaska and it brought her back to the horrible nightmares she had the last time she'd slept. And then the squealing stopped.

But the air felt hot, uncomfortably hot. It got to the point that her clothes which should have been fine for the weather seemed like she was wearing too many layers. She realised that Leo's fire was spreading. She was too close to Leo and she had Frank's stick.

Hazel's heart came to a halt. She couldn't let Frank die.

But Leo stopped, he looked at Hazel with a crazy, furious glint in his eye and the casual smile which was usually on his face was wiped off. Sammy had never had that look.

Hazel sighed in relief, the monster was in ashes now and it didn't seem if it was going to reform yet, the dust stayed where it was. Another monster for Percy and Annabeth.

"Are you alright?" Leo asked, holding out a hand to pull her up, Hazel gratefully accepted it as she got to her feet. She was a few inches smaller than Leo.

Hazel nodded and checked the pocket where Frank's stick was. It felt slightly warm but it wasn't in flames and Hazel took that as a good sign.

"Are you?" Hazel asked placing her hand on his arm.

Leo looked like he wanted to cry but he grinned and stuck his scrawny chest out, "Never better."

Hazel was going to say that Leo shouldn't be like that around her, he could be honest, but Hazel eventually said, "I think we should go and put the Athena Parthenos where it belongs before anymore monsters come."

"I couldn't think of a better plan."

"Do you know what that was?" Hazel asked.

"I think, but I may be wrong and I don't listen to all of Annabeth's lectures about Greek Mythology, that it was an _Amphisbaena_, more commonly known as a two-headed serpent. I think Medusa was like the mom of it."

Hazel really hated gorgons. They were the mother to all things annoying, aside from the original Pegasus.

Hazel called out Arion's name, hopefully he hadn't gone too far and decided to take a trip across Europe, but in a few minutes a blur ran towards Hazel and she smiled at the sight of her own horse. A golden nugget appeared from the ground and Arion munched at it straight away.

Hazel remembered Hylla's words about a prophecy stating that the most courageous female warrior would someday master Arion and ride him to victory causing a new era of prosperity for the Amazons. She didn't know what that meant, but she would do her best to ride Arion to victory, if he bothered to show up.

Leo got the rope and attached the Athena Parthenos to Arion who was looking at him deciding whether he should trample him or not. Part of Hazel was glad she didn't have Percy to translate Arion's thoughts.

Leo worked like a machine, his fingers moved swiftly and the knots in the rope looked impossibly difficult to break. In a few minutes the Athena Parthenos was securely fastened to Arion.

Hazel leaped on Arion and Leo followed, he was getting better. Hazel was debating on teaching him how to ride Hannibal, if they ever saw the elephant again. Leo was a lot better with Arion than Percy and Frank. Although in all fairness Percy did have to listen to Arion's thoughts.

The night was cool, and there was a slight breeze, and Hazel forgot how hungry she was until her tummy made a sound that a monster would be proud of.

Leo grinned at Hazel, "Let's go, we've got a statue to put back and then we can go get something to eat."

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**Next chapter on Friday!**

**Anonymous reviews ~**

**Just visiting – Thanks lovely, of course I'll make more!**

**Storm Mega – I'm going to give you an in-depth reply because you deserve it. Seriously your review made my day.**

**Don't get me started with damsels in distress…I'm glad you liked Annabeth, she was just so perfect in MoA, I'm glad you liked my interpretation.**

**I'm really glad you covered the mistakes, it's how you learn, beta seems like a good idea. I'll do my best to make sure my spelling is 100% perfect. **

**Perhaps so, I admit I forgot but I'm still able to link that into the story, so thanks for reminding me so I can link my idea with that! And they probably don't know.**

**Wow, now that's a compliment, I loved Son of Magic and Alabaster was such a fascinating character. Thanks, I have to admit I have a soft spot for Hazel so it makes it easier for me and Annabeth is just so fabulous I really wanted to portray that. I think Hazel sees Nico differently to how other people see him and a lot of people forget she's 13 and there's still a lot of character development to be done.**

**Sure, I'll work on the action scenes, I may redo that chapter later so it's longer but thanks so much! **

**I think a lot of stuff in The Lost Hero was forgotten since everyone was more concerned about Percy, but us two remembered Jason should be dead.**

**Frank's chapters are coming later on but I'll definitely cover his though process. Do you have anything in particular?**

**I think I may, nothing's set in stone, as we learn from Rick demigod's plans always go wrong and is not really how they originally were set out to be. Leo in New Rome?I think Frank and Nico are the underdogs, so I'm pretty set that the quest for the House of Hades will star those two. Jason, will try to stop the War but he'll be conflicted inside and as Thalia will be on one side, his big sister and his old friends will be on the other, Jason's going to have a hard time because he'll probably be slightly bias to one side.**

**Reyna's next chapter so I'm planning to make her gritty especially with some of the interactions she has with certain characters but with an undertone of vulnerability which she showed with Annabeth. And plus there's a whole power struggle of who's the leader.**

**Trust me I'm making Piper and Hazel having real shots of being the heroes since they are overshadowed by the boys. And that's one of the reasons why I planned Hazel and Jason to fight together, to prove she's just as tough and Roman she can be and she'll prove why she was chosen instead of Nico. **

**I hope you like even more Arion, he's fabulous. **


	10. REYNA X

**Disclaimer: You say own, I say no.**

**REYNA X**

**REYNA THOUGHT THAT SHE'D MANAGE TO GET SOME PEACEFUL SLEEP, **but she thought wrong.

Of course her, Reyna's least favourite goddess would have to visit her in her dreams. Almost to tease Reyna, to provoke her. She hadn't seen the goddess for years, she knew she hadn't forgotten about her, the curse still stood, but she'd hope that the goddess wouldn't pay a visit for a long time. Gods usually forgot about mortals.

She didn't look the same as last time. She didn't have the straight blonde hair and dark blue eyes that altered to violet and then a blue brighter than the sky. Her hair was in light curls and her eyes were a fierce shade of green. Of course she was still the most beautiful person Reyna had ever seen.

When Reyna had first met Circe, she thought nothing could have been better looking. Reyna always wanted green eyes exactly like Circe's, they were captivating. When Reyna met Venus her ideal vision of beauty changed.

Venus was mindlessly braiding her hair in a bun, showing off her collarbones. Reyna raised her eyebrows. A demigod whom Venus had cursed, and admittedly despised, was in the same room as her, and she was doing her hair.

Venus turned to Reyna and smiled, "Why don't you take a seat?"

Her words were soft, like she was singing a lullaby. Reyna sat down out of respect, but she had to work hard to find it.

"What brings you here Reyna?" She asked.

"A dream."

Venus started to tut as if Reyna had just failed her test and she was a disappointed school teacher.

"Let me ask you again, what brings you here Reyna González?"

Using Reyna's last name in front of her was always a bad idea. She had left Puerto Rico because of her dad and the violence. And Reyna didn't want to be reminded of that. Reyna knew if Hylla was here, she would have flipped and done something unreasonable like punching Venus in the face. Thank the gods she wasn't.

"_Love_," Reyna said, the sarcasm dripping from her voice. Venus continued to braid her hair as if she didn't understand Reyna's sarcasm.

Reyna scolded herself; she should know better to be sarcastic against a God. Only Jason and Percy did that and now their behaviour was influencing her.

Venus finally finished with her hair, and turned her attention towards Reyna. Reyna suddenly felt self-conscious of her appearance, her braids was too messy, her complexion wasn't perfect and her upper lip was fuller than the bottom.

"Do you remember our last visit?" Venus asked her words coming out slowly as if Reyna was a two year old and Venus was the over annoyed parent.

"Yes." Reyna didn't want to remember it, but it always lingered in the back of her mind.

"Jason Grace is getting handsome now."

Reyna pursed her lips. Did Venus have to bring Jason's looks into this? Of course she did.

Part of Reyna wanted to unsheathe her dagger and attack Venus for destroying her love life. And call Venus every curse she could think of, and she almost did it a few years back. Now Reyna was more contained, had more control over her emotions. And she did what she did best and shut her emotions down.

So she did what she did best and commented on a few of Venus' relations and how they were doing in the legion. "Your daughter, Belle is doing well in the Third Cohort and nicely performs with a gladius and last year was voted as Centurion. Your grandchild Mabel, in the Fifth is slightly weak on her left side; it makes her an easy target."

Venus raised her eyebrows, "Changing the subject won't help you. And you know love and war are quite similar."

"How?"

"All's fair in love and war," Venus said with a wry smile.

"No, it's not. I know war isn't fair, the fact that the Legion wants to war with the Greeks isn't fair and I'm the leader and there is no chance in Pluto that I can stop it. And I'm not sure love's all that fair either. Especially when a certain goddess keeps interfering," Reyna snapped her voice breaking slightly half way through.

_Styx_. She had made herself vulnerable; she had already made that mistake with Annabeth.

"Finally, a little bit of emotion from you."

Reyna gritted her teeth, she had to remain composed, and any emotion was a sign of weakness. For Reyna showing weakness was never an option. Not for the pirates who kidnapped her and Hylla, nor the Legion and certainly not for Venus.

Venus continued, her fingers absentmindedly preening her hair and in a bright tone she said, "Now Reyna, how do you feel about Jason?"

Venus' voice was calm and so soothing, and it rang like a lullaby each word melting into each other creating something beautiful. Reyna knew that was dangerous, she had seen Piper use a similar method of talking to distract the Romans, and Reyna was compelled to say how she felt, but strong will defied the Love goddess wishes.

Although last time she defied Venus, it ended up her cursing her love life; Reyna arrogantly said love was stupid. She admitted it was wrong, but Reyna liked to keep her dignity intact and not apologise to Venus. That would mean that she won.

"You know how I feel," Reyna said her voice faltering, "And Jason's made his choice."

For the first time Venus showed pure disgust as if she smelt something bad, "Very well carry one being like that. I could make your love life perfect with a flick of a wrist. Just remember that, daughter of Bellona. You could be just as cute as Paris and Helen."

Reyna wanted to say there's nothing cute about starting the Trojan War, however just before she said anything she whirled back to consciousness.

She lied in the bed for a second, enjoying the comfort of the mattress and not quite ready to face the difficulties of being a praetor today, and then she heard chanting, very loud chanting.

She knew New York was slightly chaotic, she had been there once, a stack of imperial gold was contained inside the Statue of Liberty. Now that was a very difficult task. But she and Jason managed it, they always did.

But New York was never that organised to chant, she leaped out of bed, the second she did her body yearned for the mattress and walked towards the window.

When Reyna looked outside the window her heart stopped. The whole legion was outside. A fully armed Twelfth legion.

A bitter taste formed in Reyna's mouth. She hadn't been paying attention in the meetings, half the time it consisted of Octavian ranting about the Greeks. He should keep his opinions to himself, it's more professional.

The praetor of New Rome stormed into the corridor of the apartment and walked towards the lounge where most of the Centurions would be, Reyna didn't care if she was still in her pyjamas or her hair was matted, she did not agree to the legion meeting up in New York, only the centurions.

Halfway there she came across a girl with chocolate hair and hazel eyes. She looked slightly startled at the sight of Reyna thundering down a corridor in her pyjamas. But Reyna didn't care; Hazel Levesque had seen her in the bath.

"Belle, why is the legion outside?" Reyna asked, her tone cold and calculating. She felt slightly bad for taking it out on Belle, she was a nice girl and managed to climb up the Third with pure skill, but the talk she had with her mother didn't improve Reyna's mood.

"Octavian's orders, I'm guessing you'd like to see him?" She asked.

Also Belle wasn't stupid. Reyna liked that in a person.

Belle followed Reyna into the lounge where the rest of the centurions where the centurions of the five cohorts, minus Frank Zhang, however Dakota managed to scrape a replacement, were surrounding a table. Octavian was at the head and was pointing at a battle plan. That's where the praetor should be.

Octavian had done something without her permission. Again. And he had done something very wrong.

Reyna had hoped she could delay the invasion a few weeks, persuade the legion that a detailed plan was needed to make the invasion fully successful. In that time, the seven would have returned and there could have possibly been a peace offering. Except no, Octavian had to destroy her plans.

She remembered Annabeth's warning that Camp Half-Blood should not be underestimated. Reyna knew a warrior when she saw one, and Annabeth Chase was a warrior and Reyna knew she was telling the truth.

The Romans were successful in invading and conquering, but there was no doubt in Reyna's mind that the Greeks would have been informed and would be preparing for an attack. And in mythology the Greeks weren't as weak as the Romans made out.

Reyna had studied Greek mythology at Circe's island; mainly it was trying to outline how men were pigs. But Reyna learnt that any Greek warrior was dangerous.

Reyna glared at Octavian, the glare that would make anybody feel uneasy and start confessing, she had months on a pirate ship to perfect that glare. Hank from the third looked as if he was going to wet himself.

Octavian, to Reyna's frustration smiled at her, "How are you today great praetor?"

Reyna tried to have an impassive face, "Why is the legion in New York?"

"For the invasion," Octavian said treating Reyna like a little girl. It made her furious, but Octavian wanted a reaction and she refused to give him one.

"I never gave the orders for that."

"The majority of our centurions agreed to that it would be best if the attack was as soon as possible."

Great. Now Octavian made it seem if she was disagreeing with the majority, trying to make her unfavourable if she opposed against it, "Without the praetors consent?" Reyna asked.

"Perhaps the praetor is unreliable, just like our past two praetors," Octavian said, each word as sharp as a dagger.

The betrayal of Percy Jackson, and even worse, Jason Grace took a big toll on the legion and was a weak spot for Reyna. She still trusted them and she still had hope that they'd make everything alright. Yet Reyna was left alone once again, but she always managed to cope being alone and that is what she'd do now.

"Perhaps," Reyna calmly said, resisting spitting out her words, "You forgot the _Lex Aebutia de formulis_ rules which states whatever I say goes."

Octavian looked alarmed then. He had forgotten, and Reyna was winning. Dakota stood up, standing next to Reyna and said, "She's right Octavian."

Octavian looked as if he'd been slapped in the face and Reyna wished she was the one to slap him. He quickly recovered and sneered, "Congratulations, you have the Greeks and the Geeks on your side."

Reyna had to resist retaliating that despite being the weakest cohort she would rather have them any day than the first cohort. Even the weakest warriors could be trained into the strongest if they had the right attitude, Reyna learnt that a young age.

Dakota placed his large beefy hand on Reyna's shoulder. Reyna was in the second cohort when she first joined the Legion. The centurion of the second had stood in for her when she was twelve, being a son of Bellona it was sibling favouritism Reyna guessed.

"Last time I checked, your mother wasn't the Goddess of War," Reyna said and there was a sharp intake of breath from the others, "I think you may be inexperienced in this area."

Reyna wasn't naturally a mean person. Tough? Yes. Mean? No. However the only way to control Octavian was to overpower him, and a debate seemed more rational than a sword fight. Unfortunately.

Octavian grinned, his mouth becoming wide and shark like, "However a god has insisted that the attack should happen immediately. And we wouldn't want to disobey a God, would we?"

Reyna gritted her teeth. God outranks praetor. "Who?"

"Discordia, goddess of conflict and discord. Although her Greek counterpart is more famous; Eris, the starter of the Trojan War."

**Author's note: Here's the first taste of Reyna, I made her slightly more tougher in this chapter than I intend the character to be later on, and for me, I like that Reyna and Venus had an argument (over Jason) which gives a good reason for the distance put between them. Next chapter: Tuesday!**

**Now on to the anonymous reviews: **

**Storm Mega: I'm enjoying these comments. Thanks so much, I only hope to improve! I think Hazel's strong in a different way than the others and it's awesome you thought she was strong! Thanks, I liked that line too.**

**I have an infatuation for the underdogs. I barely noticed any typos don't worry! **

**The Reyna visions more defined in the next chapter, and there will be plenty of Roman politics (but not too much you'll want to fall asleep). Oh Percy and his obliviousness.**

**Frank and Neville, that's perfect. Exactly and they both have an awkward clumsiness which wins over the character. And we all know how awesome Neville is.**

**Yeah, it changes sometimes, like the original ending contradicted a few chapter before, so I've changed it. Thanks so much!**

**Thalia was so unbelievably awesome in Titan's Curse and Annabeth is just Annabeth really, and I like that they have flaws, sometimes authors are so focused on having a tough female they forget they can have flaws too. But not RR! Don't forget Artemis!**

**I liked Jason in The Lost Hero, his actions were kind of inconsistent in MoA, you think you knew him but he would do something which was very unlike him. But I think like Percy sometimes, he can be oblivious to girls, which is both incredibly annoying and sadly realistic. **

**It's a very original and clever fanfiction, I really like it!**

**ch33tahp4w: Thanks, will do!**

**Guest 1: Thanks!**

**Guest 2: Danke tres much.**

**Oreo: By match do you mean love interest? All in due time… Or do you mean Zhangnam style?**


	11. REYNA XI

**REYNA XI**

**SQUEEZING THE LEGION IN A NORMAL NEW YORK APPARTMENT WAS TIGHT,** but the Romans had managed it. The word impossible wasn't in their vocabulary.

Scipio was cramped in there as well, nuzzling Reyna while she gently stroked it. Every eye was focused on Octavian instead of her. And it annoyed her a lot.

Octavian was telling what he saw when he was sacrificing some of his precious teddy bears. Reyna saw a few people muttering jokes about Octavian to each other and Reyna had to restrain herself from joining in, even though it was her duty to punish them and redirect their attention back to the augur. Octavian didn't notice though, so Reyna felt she didn't have to intervene.

Reyna, now fully changed, noticed there was a few people missing from the First Cohort, Octavian's thugs had disappeared and it made Reyna uneasy when she wondered what they were doing. For all Reyna knew Octavian could have sent them as a search party.

Octavian glanced at Reyna half way through his speech. Reyna felt powerless right now, she knew there would be chaos if she stood up and told Octavian what he was doing was wrong. But the situation was too complicated, the Greeks had offended the Camp and they were now acting on a Goddess' orders.

However she still had power over the Cohorts, each time her gaze fell upon someone, they squirmed and nervously looked back. Reyna didn't like that they were afraid, but at the same time it pleased her when they never did that to Octavian.

Suddenly noises were heard in the back of the apartment, and it wasn't the usual snigger about Octavian. It was screaming, a small girl screaming and a deep voice which still managed to sound childlike was shouting.

Reyna leaped down, her dagger in her grip and strode towards the sounds, and every head in the legion ignored Octavian's cries to listen and turned to the noises. There was a few startled gasps and Reyna had to shove (she'd apologise later) some legionnaires to see what was going on.

And then it was Reyna's turn to gasp.

Percy's friends – the harpy and the Cyclops – were in the grip of Octavian's six thugs. One clinging to the harpy, the other five were wrestling the Cyclops who was shouting, "Let Ella go."

Reyna had to admit, even though Cyclops weren't her favourite monsters, the selflessness was admirable as the Cyclops just wanted his friend to be safe. If he was a demigod Reyna would definitely welcome him into the legion.

"Ah," Octavian clasped his hands together, "Griffin, bring them to me."

Griffin was the ugliest, biggest one out of the lot. The Legacy of Mars tugged at the Cyclops so the other five would follow. They didn't have enough brain cells between them to do something on their own accord; they followed Octavian like little puppies.

Very thug like.

They consisted of four boys and two girls, who were likely to get mistaken as boys since they lacked a lot of femininity. Reyna cared very little about her feminine side and it was clear so did they. Each one was in the First Cohort and Reyna guessed they owed Octavian a favour, whether it was blackmail, or thanking him for standing in for them, Reyna didn't know.

But what they lacked in intelligence and free will they made up with brute strength.

"Octavian, what do you think you're doing?" Reyna asked, her dagger still in her hand.

"I'm just bringing in valuable visitors."

"I'm pretty sure visitors aren't supposed to be treated like prisoners," Reyna said, her tone was scolding as if telling off a little child. See how Octavian likes to be treated as a toddler.

Octavian just smiled at her and dismissed her comment and his thugs proceeded to him and carried the Cyclops and the harpy down to him.

Usually Reyna would have found it slightly amusing, the first Cohort being downgraded to carrying harmless monsters to Octavian. But right now she was terrified by the lack of control she had. Things may have been different if Percy or Jason were here with her.

And for once Reyna thought Circe was right. Men were pigs, they always left and they were more interested in power and adventures then women. And she wanted to be in the safety of Circe's island again. But the legion needed her. And she did owe Percy for saving the legion.

"Drop them," Reyna commanded.

The harpy opened her mouth, "Air resistance causes a raindrop to deform as it drops and eventually to fragment. Raindrops keep falling on my head is by B. J Thomas. Thomas the Tank Engine appeared in 1946. Ella likes trains and Tyson."

"Shh Ella," The Cyclops, who Reyna presumed was Tyson said, he was blushing slightly and when Ella's cheeks began to redden.

"You seem awfully good at remembering," Octavian said.

Griffin straightened up, "She's been like this the whole time when we found them hanging by a sandwich shop."

The longest sentence Reyna ever heard him said. He deserved a sticker for that one.

Ella didn't say anything and looked at Tyson for help who said, "Tyson said leave Ella alone."

"Tyson should really stop talking in third person," Octavian chided, "And Ella is very useful to us and the legion, and if is Tyson isn't careful Ella will be left alone."

Reyna had never liked Octavian, when they first met. Reyna was more wild and uncontrollable and was incredibly stubborn and Octavian's blackmail never worked on her. He was a jerk, but he had never been cruel and evil. Something wasn't right.

"Octavian, I command you let them go," Reyna said, pushing her way through the legionnaires standing face to face to Octavian.

"And let our enemies be free, people may think your with the Greeks dear praetor," Octavian's voice was scathing.

Reyna tensed. She had already left two homes - her father's home and Circe's island, and she wasn't planning on leaving another one. She wouldn't let that change happen.

Octavian had won. He had finally found a weak spot in Reyna, even though circumstances with Jason was killing her slowly inside, she would survive, but she wouldn't be able to cope without the legion, and end up being all alone.

But what could Reyna say? Her eyes burned as she just let Octavian's tyrannous behaviour carry on.

Octavian turned his attention to Ella, "You recited a prophecy at the feast, correct?" The harpy said nothing and just stared at him loathingly, "Wisdom's daughter walks alone?"

Ella recited the rest, Reyna noted that Mark of Athena seemed to be important and probably linked with Annabeth, the only child of Athena/Minerva Reyna had ever met. The key to endless death? Reyna wondered whether that linked in with Thantos and nothing about a woven jail seemed particularly happy.

"And you've read the sibylline books?" Octavian said, his eyes were greedy and Reyna could see slight golden flecks blending with the blue.

Ella nodded, "Sibyl came to Tarquin, the last Roman king, and offered nine books for an immense price but burned eight. Ella read all the books. The bestselling author J. K. Rowling wrote 7 Harry Potter books, the first one published in 1997."

When Harry Potter was published wasn't the answer Octavian was looking for. "What was the contents of the other eight books?"

"There are only seven Harry Potter books. Eight films. There are eight planets in the solar system. In 2006, International Astronomical Union redefined the term "planet", and Pluto didn't meet all the necessary conditions. So it was put in the new category of "Dwarf planets."

Reyna stifled a laugh. If you looked up annoyed in the dictionary, a picture of Octavian's face right then would've been there.

"The sibylline books. Not Harry Potter."

Ella eyed him carefully, and Tyson was struggling even more and that's when one of Octavian's goons, Katrina daughter of Victoria – the god of victory, pulled out her gladius. Time seemed to slow down as Reyna's heart sunk in Tartarus.

Reyna was glad she never sheathed her dagger so she was easily able to deflect Katrina's strike, and she remembered what Percy did in the War Games. The disarming strike. It was silent as Katrina's gladius cluttered on the floor.

Reyna stood up straight. Part of her didn't care about the punishment she may get, another part wished she had done nothing.

"Enough," Reyna icily said.

Before Octavian said anything, Ella murmured the words of a prophecy.

_The dove's attempt will end in vain,_

_As a brawl starts with a profane,_

_Discord's control will soon conclude_

_As the end of a fiery feud,_

_The gods' young may perish at war,_

_Unless nature tries to implore_

Reyna's eyes widened along with the rest of the Legion. Tyson was accidentally released free as he went to a protective stance over Ella, who seemed to be trembling.

"Octavian, you've got your prophecy, let them go," Reyna said.

Octavian said nothing. So Reyna assumed her role of praetor and ushered the terrified Cyclops and Harpy who kept glancing back quickly as if they expected war to break out right then. Reyna didn't blame them.

As soon as they were out of harm's way Octavian said, "We have a quest. We must leave at once."

For a second Reyna thought Octavian's eyes were glowing gold.

The Legion was mixed, the first and the second Cohort looked slightly excited, Reyna knew some were genuinely nice people and half of them weren't obsessed with winning and war. But the third, fourth and fifth looked hesitant.

Dakota looked at Reyna sympathetically, despite that he was always intoxicated with Kool Aid, Dakota was cleverer than he let on, and he observed things differently. Maybe it was all the sugar.

And Reyna noticed he seemed sad. She found that he was fighting Jason at Fort Summer. It must have killed him to do it. And the way he stood, his shoulders hunched it seemed it did.

Reyna cleared he throat, war was inevitable, but maybe if she started to take control it may not be as severe. Annabeth refused being a peace offering, and Reyna understood that, she had a quest to complete. But because of that, the Greeks and the Romans will be at war.

"Twelfth Legion," She called, "We depart to Long Island at once. First, Fourth and Fifth Cohorts will attack the front being led by the First, while the Second and the Third attack from the side, but you will wait for my call or for the Greeks to attack. Understood?"

The whole legion looked at Reyna with their undivided attention; there were not witty remarks just obedient looks. Reyna wondered whether the Greeks would make a sacrifice, something important so the whole war could be avoided, but she would brainstorm that later.

They clearly understood Reyna.

She marched outside and the Legion broke the silence by talking to one another, Octavian was surrounded by his 'friends' sending glares at Reyna that Medusa would be proud of. But she chose to ignore that.

She also ignored Octavian's battle plan. He wanted to attack full on, in descending Cohort order. It was smarter to send a team by the sides, sneakier less expected, like the Trojan horse. And making the first lead was a risk by Reyna, she didn't trust Octavian, but she trusted the other centurion, Bobby, son of Mercury.

No one questioned the Amazons not being involved and Reyna was glad. She didn't want to get Hylla involved in a war which she didn't belong in. If she couldn't keep the legion safe she could do her best to make sure Hylla was out of harm's way.

Bobby was one of the guys that everyone liked including Hannibal. Bobby stayed outside with Hannibal, since trying to put an elephant in an apartment was ridiculous. Reyna, him and Jason went on a quest together, and in some ways Bobby felt like an older brother.

He wasn't the best leader, but he bothered to know everyone's name in the Twelfth Legion, and probably pranked everyone at least once in the legion. He was a talented fighter and had been in the legion since he was eight. So Reyna trusted him.

He nodded at her as Reyna and Twelfth Legion Fulminata filed past him, looking as organised as an army of teenagers can be and separated into groups where they slid into black BMWs.

He slipped in the same BMW as Reyna and took the role of driving. He had even forged his own driving permit for the opportunity. A few members of the First shared the car with them and Reyna began filing him in, trying not to sound bias or call Octavian every swear word she knew, which was a lot.

And in the meantime Reyna was praying to the Gods for some answer on how to stop the next Civil War.

**After months of not doing anything, and you are all free to call me *insert your choice of insult here* I feel genuinely awful. However, I'm attempting to make it up, the first step being producing this chapter and continuing with the fanfiction.**


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